The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

By Kristoffer Diaz

Directed by Eddie Torres

Originally produced at Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, IL.

September 25,2009 through November 1, 2009

About the Premiere Production: Macedonio Guerra is a middle-rank pro wrestler who may have discovered his ticket to the big time: an impossibly charismatic, hip-hop-influenced Indian kid from Brooklyn. Their boss has the perfect concept: team them in the ring as terrorists. Diaz’ smart, comic look at pro wrestling, geopolitics, and refrigerator crispers is a theatrical smackdown of dazzling hip-hop language, presented with a fresh, funny, high-octane flair. Set in the world of professional wrestling, Chad also raises pertinent questions about racial identity and pop culture in our society.

Artistic Statement: There are always many reasons not to produce a play. That could have been the case with The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity; the script relies very heavily on first person narrative…and it’s about professional wrestling. However, from the first read of the script, one of 120 submissions for Victory Gardens’ inaugural Ignition Festival for emerging writers of color under 40, Diaz’s delicious language, political point of view, and insightful humor moved his play to the top of the proverbial pile. Through the summer Ignition Festival reading, subsequent workshop and presentation, and well into the rehearsal process, it has become clear that this unique, wildly funny, audaciously physical production is not your typical evening in the theater. It promises to be able to bring people to VG who are not regular theatergoers; its hip-hop vocabulary will appeal to the young but, as proven at an open rehearsal, our more mature subscribers were intrigued and excited. Diaz has a lot to say about stereotypes and America’s fears. And he says it passionately, humorously, even outrageously.

This is the very first Mainstage professional production that Kris Diaz will have. But it will certainly not be the last. Once Victory Gardens selected The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, several other theaters committed to production. The support of the Edgerton Foundation has made additional and essential rehearsal time a reality for our artists. The design and technical challenges as well as the physical demands on the actors necessitated more work in the rehearsal room or, in this case, on the mat than we had budgeted.

All of us at Victory Gardens hope that, in satirizing the ideals of our nation, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity will “Pick ‘em up—Powerbomb ‘em—Pin ‘em”. We are ecstatic to be able to give Kris the stage for this world premiere. - From Associate Artistic Director Sandy Shinner

Director: Eddie Torres

Set Design:Brian Sidney Bembridge

Lighting Design:Jesse Klug

Sound Design:Mikhail Fiksel

Costume Design:Christine Pascual

Projections: John Boesche

Props: D.J. Reed

Fight Director: David Woolley, SAFD

Stage manager: Tina M. Jach

Cast: Vigneshwar Padujar, aka VP: Usman Ally

Chad Deity: Kamal Angelo Bolden

Macedonio Guerra, aka The Mace: Desmin Borges