The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Vigneshwar Paduar
Chad Deity
Macedonio Guerra
Billy Heartland
Old Glory
Everett K. Olson
September 25, 2009
English
Synopsis[edit]
Act One[edit]
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 (VP) 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.
Act Two[edit]
THE Wrestling begins building a rivalry between Chad Deity and The Fundamentalist. Mace and VP begin working on a finisher for The Fundamentalist, settling on a superkick title the Sleeper Cell. After initially freezing, The Fundamentalist KOs Billy Heartland with a single kick. Next week he does the same move against Old Glory, becoming more arrogant with every win. Olson picks The Fundamentalist to become the next Champion but, to Mace’s dismay, VP decides to leave THE Wrestling. Needing Mace to step up in his place, Olson allows him to perform as himself.
Reception[edit]
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 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."[3]
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."[7] The New York Daily News called the same production, "flashy, fleshy and ridiculously entertaining".[19] 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."[8]