The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity


The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is a dramatic comedy play by Kristoffer Diaz about a professional wrestler, "driven by narratives of the American dream and neoliberal capitalism."

Synopsis

Act One

Macedonio Guerra is a professional wrestler at THE Wrestling. Despite being the superior wrestler Mace is delegated to playing the heel to the champion, Chad Deity. Everett K Olson, CEO of THE Wrestling, capitalizes on racial stereotypes to win support from the audience. Tired of being “the guy who loses to make the winners look good,'' Mace recruits Vigneshwar Paduar to THE Wrestling. Unable to fit the racially ambiguous VP into his show, Olson initially refuses. But with the help of Chad Deity, Olson brings VP on as The Fundamentalist, with Mace playing his partner, Che Chavez Castro. The pair, billed as anti-American extremists, quickly become fan favorite villains. Act One ends with The Fundamentalist calling out Chad Deity on stage.

Epilogue

VP watches the fight from his home in bed. He is happy to see Macedonio Guerra on stage, not Che Chavez Castro. In the final moments of the play, Mace is powerbombed by Chad Deity. Prompting his girlfriend to ask “Why are they rooting for the bad guy?”

Production history

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity had its world premier at Chicago's Biograph Theater on September 25, 2009 in a Victory Gardens Theater production starring Usman Ally, Kamal Angelo Bolden, Desmin Borges, Jim Krag, and Christian Litke.
Directed by Edward Torres, Designed by Brian Sidney Bembridge, Jesse Klug, John Boesche, and Christine Pascual
TheaterLocationDateRef.-
InterAct Theatre CompanyPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaOctober 2009-
Mixed Blood Theatre CompanyMinneapolis, MinnesotaApril 2010-
Second Stage TheaterNew York City, New YorkMay 2010-
Geffen PlayhouseLos Angeles, CaliforniaSeptember 2011-
Actors Theatre of LouisvilleLouisville, KentuckyJanuary 2012-
Woolly Mammoth Theatre CompanyWashington, D.C.September 2012-
Curious Theatre CompanyDenver, ColoradoSeptember 2012-
Dallas Theater CenterDallas, TexasOctober 2012-
Carolina Actors Studio TheatreCharlotte, North CarolinaApril 2013-
Capital StageSacramento, CaliforniaJuly 2013-
Barebones ProductionsPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaFebruary 2017-
Play-PerViewOnline reading via ZoomAugust 2020
Profile TheatrePortland, OregonOctober 2022
Zach TheatreAustin, TXOctober 2022

Reception

Variety (magazine) published a positive review of the original production at the Biograph Theater, complimenting the "vigorous physicality and wickedly intelligent humor." Critic Steve Oxman commented that "Kristoffer Diaz| Diaz has found a vehicle to tell a much deeper narrative about how our culture digests racial identity, and how commerce, as well as commercial storytelling, is at its core about generating passion, with the exploitation of our baser instincts often the easiest means of doing so."
The New York Times said the production at the Off Broadway Second Stage Theatre "has the delicious crackle and pop of a galloping, honest-to-God, all-American satire." The New York Daily News called the same production, "flashy, fleshy and ridiculously entertaining". The Los Angeles Times said the play "leaps out of the proscenium frame at every opportunity, exhorting, drop-kicking and body-slamming its way into an immediacy that is more familiar to sporting events and rap concerts than to a traditional night of theater."

Awards and nominations