Wrestling Comedy The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity from Second Stage Theater
Second Stage (307 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036)
- Full Price:
- $70.00
- Our Price:
- $35.00*
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All offers for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity have expired.
The last date listed for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was Sunday June 20, 2010 / 3:00pm.
Currently at Second Stage:
Topher Grace and Olivia Thirlby Star in Lonely I'm Not
- Full Price:
- $75.00
- Our Price:
- $37.50
Paul Weitz, director of the popular comedy American Pie and prolific playwright, returns to The Second Stage. The theater has previously produced his plays Privilege, Show People and 2010's Trust starring Zach Braff. Now Second Stage premieres Weitz's latest, Lonely I'm Not, which follows the comic journey of Porter (played by That '70s Show's Topher Grace), a young business burnout who meets Heather (Juno's Olivia Thirlby), an ambitious career woman on the rise who is a whiz on the job, but struggles in her personal life. At the age when most people are just figuring out what they want to do with their lives, Porter has already been married and divorced, made millions at the top of the corporate ladder and lost it all in a nervous breakdown. When he crosses paths with Heather, Porter has been out of commission for four years and is now ready to give life another shot. Learn More
Goldstar Member Tips
4 Goldstar Member Reviews
Dave Kim
The actors that they selected to play their parts were PERFECT. They really left it all out there in the ring and it had a little bit of everything: comedy, drama, fantasy, reality, flare, racism. I mean... what more could you ask for? The ending is a bi abrupt, but it speaks to the reality of the businesss and the entity of a corporate machine, in general.Written on May 02 2010
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Sandy Stein
Great acting--very funny spoof on wrestling and life in general. Lots of action, hilarity and great bodies!Written on Jun 14 2010
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Flex9is
While the theater was great, the show itself seemed a bit overdone. It was the same typical racial undertones but in a wrestling setting which made it kinda different. Lead actor was great but hard to root for, as was everyone else in the show.Written on May 25 2010
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More Information About The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Website
http://www.2st.com/component/option,com_plays/task,viewPlay/id,132
Description
Written by Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Edward Torres
An interview with Kristoffer Diaz
What was your inspiration for the play?
I grew up as a huge wrestling fan. As a kid, most of my friends loved the World Wrestling Federation -- the cartoony, super-popular company headlined by muscle-bound superhero Hulk Hogan. I watched the WWF, but preferred the National Wrestling Alliance, a smaller company that focused more on the athletic competition side of the business. By all objective measures, there was better wrestling in the NWA, but the WWF was better at generating spectacle -- and the WWF’s version won out big. I think that lesson stayed with me on a subconscious level: it’s not enough to be good at what you do, you’ve also got to make people want to pay attention. Sometimes the latter is more important than the former. It doesn’t matter if it’s theater, wrestling, or even politics -- perception matters. Style usually trumps substance. As an artist, it became clear to me that I needed to try to balance both.
How do you see the relationship between the world of professional wrestling and the world of theater?
I grew up going to both live theater and live wrestling events -- Madison Square Garden with my dad one weekend, Theatreworks USA with my mom the next. While the specifics of each form are different (wrestling is more like a musical than it is a traditional play; when the emotion gets too large to express in words, musical characters break into song while wrestlers break into choreographed violence), I see them as flip sides of the same storytelling coin. You’ve got protagonists and antagonists, escalating sequences of conflict building to a climax, reversals, reveals, catharsis, and of course, spectacle.
In the United States, we've somehow managed to create a false division between theater (seen by many folks as “high culture”) and other forms of live storytelling. With this play (and in all my plays), I’m trying to blur that line. Professional wrestling is great on huge emotional investment, not so good with subtlety, intellectual rigor, and cultural awareness. Because of those glaring flaws, it’s easy to dismiss the form, but I’d rather analyze it, learn from it, and see how it can help me tell a better story.
As reflected in the play, many personas in the world of professional wrestling are drawn from racial and cultural stereotypes. Do you see that ever changing?
At its basest form, wrestling is a secular morality play, reflecting the social values of its audience. In the United States, this tends to mean that the working man is the good guy, and anything that threatens his way of life is going to be bad. I think that’s a long way of saying wrestling stereotypes won’t change until American society changes.
What is the significance of the play’s title, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity?
Whenever I talk about the play informally, I call it "Chad Deity" (or "Chad", if I’m being really lazy). The play’s not about “Chad Deity” the person though; it’s about “Chad Deity” the media construction. The success of THE Wrestling is not attributed to the skills or charisma of one man; it’s contributed to the spectacle that's been created around and in the service of that man. I’m not offering a critique of any individual person with this play. I’m trying to examine and illustrate the systems that produce the public perceptions of these people. The important words in the title aren’t "Chad Deity," they’re "Elaborate Entrance."
This is your first full professional production in New York. How does it feel?
New York is home, plain and simple. My friends and family are going to get to see my play. That’s kind of the reason why you do stuff like this, isn’t it? The fact that my home town happens to be the theatrical Mecca of the world (yeah, I said it -- what are you going to do about it, London?) is just a nice little bonus. I’m thrilled.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the play?
Maybe first I should mention what I hope audiences bring to the play: a willingness to have some fun...then think critically about the fun they’re having. We’ll be trying to mess with your expectations every step of the way. We’ll be doing everything in our power to get you to stand up and cheer, then call you out on why you’re cheering and for whom you’re cheering. There’s only one thing theater can do better than television and film, and that’s create a communal experience between audience and actor. I hope that audiences walk away with the feeling that they've just experienced something that they’ve never been a part of before.
About the Ticket Supplier: Second Stage Theatre
Director Carole Rothman and actress Robyn Goodman founded Second Stage Theatre in 1979 to give 'second stagings' to contemporary American plays that originally failed to find an audience due to scheduling problems, inappropriate venues or limited performance runs. Since then, Second Stage has evolved from a small theatre into an Off-Broadway institution dedicated to developing plays, artists and audiences.
Second Stage Theatre gives new life to contemporary American plays through 'second stagings;' provides emerging authors with their Off-Broadway debuts; and produces world premieres by America's most respected playwrights. Through both the production of new plays and long-term residencies that focus on artistic process rather than product, artists find a supportive environment in which to try new roles, production designs and writing techniques. Audiences are an essential factor in program development at Second Stage Theatre, which is nationally known for its dedication to building future audiences by educating teens about the art of contemporary theatre and encouraging their participation in the cultural life of New York City.
For nearly three decades, Second Stage Theatre productions have launched the successful careers of numerous directors, actors, playwrights and artists, many of whom regularly return to work at Second Stage. The company's mission also has expanded to the commissioning of a body of multigenerational plays; the creation of a training base for young directors and a home base for mid-career directors; and the development of educational projects that are integrated with the ongoing artistic work at the theatre.