Review: Zach Theatre's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

Photo by Suzanne Cordeiro

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is dripping with nostalgia and masculinity. I can't find playwright Kristoffer Diaz's birthday online, but I'm willing to bet he's a late-stage Gen Xer based on how his main character recalls the Saturday mornings of the mid-Eighties. Sugary breakfast cereal, kiddie cartoons (complete with a lovely nod to Tomax and Xamot, the evil twins from G.I. Joe), and most importantly, wrestling. Macedonio Guerra – or "The Mace," as we'll come to know him – remembers the old WWF wrestler toys that were nothing more than heavy, posed pieces of rubber. You couldn't really play with them. You couldn't tell a story.

The Mace, however, has a story to tell. It'd be a perfect goddamn story, too, if you'd just shut the fuck up and let him tell it.

The aforementioned masculinity is not the toxic kind. In fact, it's the vehicle through which the play's loftier message is smuggled. The show's press release warns of strong language, violence, and intersecting themes of racism, xenophobia, nativism, and assimilation. As directed by Jerry Ruiz (who attacks the script like a skilled predator), it's also hilarious, action-packed, and incredibly thoughtful. It's the kind of story that most needs to be heard by the type of people who likely don't typically see live theatre, deftly concealed in a shiny, loud, and macho package with a dude-bro bow on top.

The show must have been challenging to cast. It specifically calls for one Latinx man, one Indian man, one Black man, and one white man. They all must have the physique of a professional wrestler and be able to pull off actual wrestling moves. And, perhaps obviously, they must be very strong actors. Any two of those are easy to find, but all three? Each cast member here nails the trifecta.

Hollis Edwards III (as Chad Deity), Herman Gambhir (Vigneshwar Paduar), and Nicholas Robert Ortiz (Macedonio) play their roles with enough energy and charisma to fill a huge stadium – which the audience feels like they're in, thanks to scenic designer Inseung Park's clever set design, which makes the Topfer seem even more cavernous than it already is. Andre Martin is also a joy to watch as "E.K.O.," the slimy owner and ringmaster of the circus that is THE Wrestling. Danny Zigal shines as multiple opponents of the main trio throughout.

The focal point of Park's set is an actual wrestling ring, on which all the actors at one time or another magnificently pull off H. Russ Brown's spectacular fight choreography. We're not talking your standard stage slap here. We're talking clotheslines, vicious elbows, body slams, kicks to head, powerbombs, and more. The stamina needed is simply stunning, with one actor delivering a powerful monologue while fighting all the others. Bill Rios' light design, John Erickson's video design, and Phillip Owen's sound design combine to achieve the absolute spectacle that is this production, complete with huge video screens on either side of the ring, which broadcast much of the show in real time.

Beyond the glitz and noise, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is a show about owning stereotypes in order to fight them but remembering to actually do so when the time is right. It's an homage to sports and athleticism, oft-unacknowledged forms of theatre themselves. And although never directly said, the symbolism may suggest Diaz's indictment of an America in which, while the white man is still usually the bad guy, not all shades of brown are weighted equally.

With elaborate themes, set, design, and choreography, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity shouldn't be missed.

Zach Theatre's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity