The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

by Kristoffer Diaz

Mace is a professional wrestler. He's a really good professional wrestler. He's not the champion though - that's the impossibly charismatic Chad Deity. When Mace discovers a young Indian-American Brooklyn kid whose charisma rivals that of the champ, Mace decides to get him a job in the company. Only problem is, the boss has a very specific plan for the duo: put them onscreen as terrorists. Kristoffer Diaz's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is a serious minded comedy about wrestling, geopolitics, and raisin bread.
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity...has the delicious crackle and pop of a galloping, honest-to-God, all-American satire." - The New York Times
"Ladies and Gentlemen, in this corner of Chicago's rich theater scene, weighing in with a unique combo of vigorous physicality and wickedly intelligent humor, please put your hands together for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, a vibrantly entertaining, insightful new play about - wait for it - professional wrestling."- Variety

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Read For School, Fiction

66 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2011

Reviews

[myalianom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m DOING this play. Just you wait

[niko · Rating 3 out of 5]

the themes within this play are very contemporarily (is this a word?) prominent. the message that diaz is trying to convey is very unique and impactful.

it just took a while for it to land. i don't know if it was the dialogue between characters, the use of wrestling as a means of utilizing these themes and this message, or what, but it didn't really stick out to me.

i feel like this would have been SO much better seeing it in a theatre. seeing the entrances would have been a sight. being directly narrated to might have made it more engaging and easy to follow.

there's also the fact that i read this in a span of like under an hour. maybe i need to reread. or just watch it.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who watched WWE growing up, I was excited to read this play. I was under whelmed. The start of the play had me captivated with Mace’s cut to the audience, but when that surprise wore off, it was all through narration. Too much third person talking, and a weird story structure. I really wanted to love it, but felt the ending tried to be something it wasn’t, and left me unsatisfied. I did like some of the comments, references, and the how Diaz let there me room for change by the actors.

[Alex Gruenenfelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this play for a script analysis class in my final quarter of college, and it is brilliant. I annotated throughout, not just for the assignment but for all of the detail and connections I made from it. I usually believe one cannot fully appreciate a play until they see it on stage, and I would love to see this one on stage, but it has so many unique features as a written work. The perfect blend of comedy and social commentary, go read this play.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, smart satire on pop culture's infinite ability to co-opt and commodify damn near anything. I'd love to see this one on stage, but the cadences of the wrestler-performers (in both the literal and meta senses) come through nicely on the page. Everything Diaz does with wrestling applies equally well to hip hop, "real" sports and any other cultural economic niche opens up just enough to pretend to resist the dollar-driven mainstream

[Amos McCandless · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diaz brings to life the ultimate theatre experience: professional wrestling. In this piece, he unravels the history of wrestling in the USA (NOT America) and how this art form reflects the country’s landscape of identity. Like most plays, this would be most effective to experience as a performance - but Diaz’s stage directions lend a hand to the reader to help them visualize the action onstage. I would love to see this performed!

[melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this play for my Race in Theatre class and was not that impressed. Normally, I do not read contemporary plays so I was glad to branch out. However, the characters and storyline was not for me, but I did enjoy the conciseness. I would recommend this to someone who enjoys sports, fiction, and plays.

[Ryan Reese · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool little play that someone recommended for me after I was talking about the "theater" of pro wrestling. I don't know a ton about it, but I've had a few conversations with a couple friends who are experts. it's a pretty interesting concept, and this play hammered home the idiosyncracies of that world and the hopes that tropes can evolve and change within American theater.

[John Geddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked it up on a whim (there's a luchador on the cover!) and found it interesting if not compelling. It takes an interesting, authentic view on race and the use of race to appeal to an audience through the lens of professional wrestling.

It won't be everyone's thing, but I bet this is great to see live.

6m, Shifting set/needs a ring

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took a long time to read this short play, just because I initially wasn't in the right mood to read it. It's ok. I think someone who's watched wrestling and the drama and spectacle of it would enjoy it more than I did.

[Victoria Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was hard to know when it was internal thoughts and when something was actually happening in the real world. I just saw fighting with my family, so i feel like that prepared me a little to read this play.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess, I didn't expect much out of this play based on it's subject matter. I guess I'm a wrestling snob. But it turns out that it's really about the politics behind wrestling. It doesn't pretend that the entire spectacle isn't scripted beforehand. So on that level, I was pleasantly surprised.

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool premise told through some very interesting characters. Definitely made for the stage though; felt a little unfulfilling only reading it when I know I would have really enjoyed seeing it performed.

[maya greenway · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 i think. i liked the through line themes of racial stereotyping but sometimes i would just get lost or that message would just get buried. hard to read but would play out better on stage. ending was a bit weird

[Luke Harp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this after I had written a one act play and I was recommended off BookTok this play that won awards and it’s also about wrestling but it let me down because its incredibly dull and goes on and on and I truly don’t see why this play is complimented!

[Josh Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final line of the play is a real gut punch. I look forward to seeing this performed.

[Payton · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was horrible to read. it probably would've been much better to see in person

[Jenny King-Modlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would *love* to see a creative production of this play. Wonderful deep dive about an American dream that might look different on the surface, but actually isn’t. Rich characters and sharp dialogue.

[Monica St. Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

read harder challenge 2020: read a play by an author of color and/or queer author

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky -- I liked it although I am definitely not a wrestling fan!

[bookster95 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what Diaz was trying to do with this play, but making the actors narrate the entire play got boring and tedious real fast. Maybe seeing a production might change my mind.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and poignant play about identity, race, and power in modern America.

[Anna Noden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. Thought provoking, obnoxious, and poignant.

[Kevin Stephany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't care for the use of a narrator in plays. I did find the story creative, though.

[Kia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up on this interesting commentary piece

[KJK · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for class, an enthralling and impactful play to read, but the themes took a little longer to land than they should have and the ending was a little too ambiguous for my taste.

[Sydney Breedlove · Rating 4 out of 5]

so crisp and funny

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think i might like this better on stage, but just reading it was underwhelming. great setup but didn't really go anywhere for me.

[Zahraa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why was this book written SPECIFICALLY for me (if I was a wrestler) right now? I wish I was able to see this play in real life smh.

[nailea · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a great playwright & truly displayed the internalized dialogue we face as latinos in white-dominated spaces