New Drama at Miami's Colony Theatre

PRESS RELEASE_(Miami Beach, January 16, 2018) Miami New Drama continues its groundbreaking season with Kristoffer Diaz’s potent political satire The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, a body-slamming take on racism, stereotypes and a battle for the American soul set in the flamboyant world of pro wrestling. Presented in partnership with Sarasota’s Asolo Rep, one of the premiere regional theaters in the country, this Pulitzer Prize finalist in drama previews January 25 thru 26 and runs January 27 to February 18 at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. The theatre will be transformed into a full-scale wrestling arena complete with two ringside seating sections to bring audiences even closer to the action.

Miami New Drama presents a powerful, prescient comedy for our fraught political moment. Chad Deity premiered in 2009, going on to garner enthusiastic reviews and multiple honors, including an Obie Award for Best New American Play and a New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. But today the play’s themes of racial stereotypes, cultural manipulation, and the blurring boundary between politics and entertainment are more relevant than ever. “This is a play for today’s America, and this is the moment to bring it back into the conversation,” says Miami New Drama Artistic Director Michel Hausmann. “It’s a rollicking, chilling parable for the era of politics-as-reality-show.”

Chad Deity centers on New York-raised Puerto Rican wrestler “Mace” Guerra, paid to perpetually lose to the title character, the flamboyant African-American star of a rigged WWE-style wrestling franchise. When Mace enlists a cocky Indian-American teen to help him finally fulfill his wrestling dreams, the manipulative promoter forces them to play a border-busting Mexican immigrant and a Muslim terrorist – racist, crowd-pleasing caricatures which force them to confront what they’ll do to win.

An acclaimed playwright and educator whose work has been produced at numerous major theaters and festivals across the country, including The Public Theater, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Brooklyn-raised Diaz has loved wrestling since he was a child, and is a writer on the popular Netflix series GLOW, about the rise of women’s wrestling.

Director Jen Wineman, also a choreographer and longtime wrestling fan, stages Chad Deity with all the visceral physicality of a real TV wrestling match, complete with flips to the mat and flying dives off the ropes. The Colony Theatre will be transformed into a sports arena, with the audience sitting ringside and encouraged to cheer, boo and take sides.

The cast includes Pierre Jean Gonzalez (Usnavi, In the Heights) as Mace and South Florida radio personality and Carbonell Award winner Todd Allen Durkin as EKO.

What:                
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Presented by Miami New Drama and Asolo Repertory Theatre

When:                
Jan. 25 to Feb. 18
Thursday - Saturday | 8:00 p.m.
Sunday | 3:00 p.m.

Where:             
Colony Theatre
1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach FL 33139
305-674-1040

Tickets:             
$30 to $59; Opening Night $100
 www.colony.org or 1-800-211-1414