The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz is a Pulitzer finalist that began in 2009 at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago and the moved to the Second Stage in New York. In New York it garnished several awards including 2011 New York Times Play Prize, the Obie Award for Best New American Play and the Lucile Lortel Award for Best New Play. That said, while I could appreciate many aspects of the play including the set, the spectacle, and the acting, overall I was less than thrilled at this loud obnoxious and obvious play.
The set was by Brian Sidney Bembridge and consisted of a wrestling ring with lights all around that added to the glitzy feeling. Screens that give the audience a close-up view of the action surrounded this ring. Jesse Klug was the lighting designer and lit the proceedings with appropriate panache. The costumes, what there was of them, were splashy and colorful and designed by Christina Haatainen Jones.
This is first and foremost a wrestling play, a pro wrestling play and, as such was peopled by over-the-top characters. They were well played and had received accolades in New York. My problem with them was the sound level and the aggressive hip-hop dialogue. I felt assaulted. Some of this was amusing but basically ended up alienating me. Terrence Archie was Chad Deity, the reigning “Champ” and the “Good Guy” in wrestling terms. He was paired with Desmin Borges (Macedonio Guerra – AKA Mace), "the bad guy played by professional wrestler Justin Leeper, Timothy Talbot as both “Billy Heartland” and “Old Glory” Borges character is the spokesperson for the play and the story teller. His character has been the traditional fall- guy for “Chad Deity”. He enlists the help of a guy from the streets, Usman Ally (Vigneshwar Paduar). Together they for a tag team as a Cuban (Borges) and a Taliban insurgent (Ally). This doesn’t work out very well since they both feel exploited (they are not Cuban nor Taliban) and Ally’s character quits. Their greedy manipulative manager is Everett K. Olson (Steve Valentine) who was suitably slimy.
The wrestling spectacle is really minimal and I recalled a much better experience and real wrestling ,years ago in a play about female fighters called Trafford Tanzi. The play is heralded as an expose on American values and the exploitation of minorities. I already knew this about pro wrestling so there was nothing new here except the actors. Edward Torres who might have modulated all this better directed the play. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity will play at the Geffen Playhouse until October 9th.