Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Dennis Zacek and Executive Director Jan Kallish announced today that the company's 2009-2010 smash hit season opener, the world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz, is officially bound for New York City.
Just named "Best Play of 2009" by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and TimeOut Chicago, Victory Gardens' debut production of Diaz' acclaimed new play will be revived at New York's Second Stage Theatre, April 27-June 20, 2010.
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was born from our first-ever Ignition Festival, one of our boldest new play development initiatives in Victory Gardens' 36-year history," said Zacek. "The original goal of Ignition was to find, develop and present a full mainstage production of a new play by a young writer of color, under 40 years old, who had never had a full production at a major regional theater, then to ignite future productions of the winning play around the country. So we are thrilled that our first Ignition world premiere is indeed going to have a future life, launching into the theatrical stratosphere at no less than New York's prestigious Second Stage Theatre."
Previews of Victory Gardens' Chicago production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity begin at Second Stage Theatre, 305 W. 43rd Street, New York, on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. Opening night is Thursday, May 20 at 6:45 pm. For tickets and information, call the Second Stage Theatre box office, 212.246.4422, or reserve tickets online at www.2st.com.
Far from a typical evening in the theater, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is an audacious exploration of race and politics through the unlikely lens of professional wrestling. Victory Gardens' whip smart, wildly funny, incredibly physical production, originally presented in association with Teatro Vista, boasts a hip-hop vocabulary, a rock and roll soundtrack, pre-recorded and live, on-stage video simulcasts, as well as death defying moments of actual wrestling.
Diaz' plot revolves around Macedonio Guerra, a middle-rank pro wrestler who may have just 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. Throughout, Diaz' smart, comic look at pro wrestling, geopolitics, and refrigerator crispers is a theatrical smack down of dazzling hip-hop language, presented with a fresh, funny, high-octane flair. Meanwhile, Diaz manages to raise thorny questions about racial stereotypes and America's fears, and he answers them passionately, humorously, even outrageously.
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity officially opened on the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater mainstage on October 5th, 2009, to unanimous critical acclaim: .
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was a standout among the 120 scripts submitted for Ignition. Kris' dynamic language and his passionate look at America's fears using pro wrestling as his metaphor caught our attention immediately," said Sandy Shinner, Associate Artistic Director and producer of Ignition. "As one of the six finalists selected for the 2008 summer Ignition festival, Chad Deity began to generate raves from both audiences and staff even in that first staged reading. Once we committed to mainstage production and added a brilliant design team, the visual fireworks of the show, along with the top-notch acting, brought Kris' sophisticated ideas to robust life. Audiences were leaping to their feet at each performance."
Original director Eddie Torres, Artistic Director of Teatro Vista, is on board again to direct the New York production. Complete casting and design team will be announced at a later date.
Victory Gardens' original Chicago company included Usman Ally (Vigneshwar Padujar, aka VP), Kamal Angelo Bolden (Chad Deity), Desmin Borges (Macedonio Guerra, aka The Mace, "one of the best performances in 2009" - Chicago Tribune), James Krag (Everett K. Olsen, aka EKO, Ring Announcer), and Christian Litke (Joe Jabroni, and other colorful wrestlers). Designers were Brian Sidney Bembridge, set; Christine Pascual, costumes; Jesse Klug, lights; Mikhail Fiksel, sound; John Boesche, projections; D.J. Reed, props; and David Woolley, SAFD, fight director. Production stage manager was Tina M. Jach.
Victory Gardens' world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was Kristoffer Diaz's first professional production. His other plays include Welcome to Arroyo's and Guernica, which have been produced and developed at American Theatre Company, The Orchard Project, Hip-Hop Theater Festival, The Lark, Summer Play Festival, Donmar Warehouse, and South Coast Rep. Diaz also was one of the creators of Brink!, the apprentice anthology show at the 2009 Humana Festival of New American Plays. He is a 2009-2010 Jerome Fellow, and a new playwright-in-residence at Teatro Vista.