For Oceanside Theatre Company’s production of Kristoffer Diaz’s comedy “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” the Sunshine Brooks Theater stage has been transformed into a wrestling ring.
It’s a natural fit.
“Wrestling is theater,” said Kevin “Blax” Burroughs, OTC’s artistic director, and the codirector, with Durwood Murray Jr., of “Chad Deity.” The play, a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is having its first professional staging locally since the former ion theatre in Hillcrest presented it 15 years ago. “It’s live, physical, stunt theater.”
Like Burroughs, Murray is an avowed pro wrestling fan. He made its connection to theater back in college.
“Aristotle says that in order to be able to define a piece of theater it requires six essential elements: plot, character, thought, diction, spectacle and music. I learned this in a theater class. As soon I heard that I sort of shot up and thought ‘Those are all elements that are in wrestling,’” Murray said.
“It was my defense against anybody in my theater department who would make fun of me because I was a wrestling fan, that just like any theater piece, wrestling has these elements. Please respect it.”
The cast and creative team for Oceanside Theatre Company’s production of “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity.” (Oceanside Theatre Company)
“The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity” is about wrestlers — principally the big star with that flashy name (played in this production by Wrekless Watson) and Puerto Rican Macedonio “Mace” Guerra, whose job in the predetermined matches is to lose and thereby make that star look good. In wrestling jargon that’s referred to as being a “jobber.”
Into the fray comes a newbie, Indian-American Vigneshwar Paduar, aka VP (played by Seth Gunawardena). The personas in which the wrestlers are cast in the ring, such as “Che Chavez Castro,” and what Diaz’s play says about politics, racism and stereotypes, underline the narrative of the play.
“A lot of the issues that are addressed in the play are still very relevant, whether to wrestling or to American society as a whole,” said Murray, “and the play is going to have relevance — unfortunately — for quite a bit longer. I hope that with more performances of this we’ll start to chip away at that.
“Maybe it’s a lofty goal to have, but I feel that art is our weapon, and that’s how I’m going to wield it.”
The ring being used at the Brooks Theater is on loan from SoCal Pro Wrestling in San Marcos, a partner on this production with Oceanside Theatre Company.
“They’ve done a great job of bringing us into their fold and teaching our actors some basic wrestling,” Murray said. “Our actors have really taken to it quite well.”
“They’re ‘insane’ in the best way,” added Burroughs of his actors. “They’re all so incredibly game to do everything, more than we could ask for. When I watch them in the ring I actually feel like I’m watching wrestling.”
In addition to their training with SoCal Pro Wrestling, the actors attended a live wrestling event last month at Oceanside’s Frontwave Arena.
“They’ve all become wrestling fans,” said Burroughs. “It’s kind of crazy how quickly it’s happened.”
Burroughs and Murray are encouraging theatergoers who aren’t wrestling fans, however, to appreciate “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity” on another level.
“What we want the most as co-directors of the piece,” he said, “is to have people who don’t know wrestling to still be able to enjoy the wrestling aspect of it, the larger-than-life characters and the very enthusiastic entrances, even if they’re not watching wrestling on television week to week.
“There’s such a great balance of getting the pro wrestling, but also the comedic drama of the story itself.”
Harking back to that old college class, Murray suggested that “Being able to relate professional wrestling to live theater may be another entry point for audience members.”
Fluency in the teachings of Aristotle is not required.
‘The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity’
When: Preview, 8 p.m. Friday, March 13. Opens at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 14, and runs through March 29. 8 p.m. Fridays; 3 p.m. Sundays. Also at 3 p.m. March 21 and 8 p.m. March 23 and 28
Where: Oceanside Theatre Company At The Brooks, 217 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside
Tickets: $28 and up
Phone: 760-433-8900
Online: oceansidetheatre.org