CHAD Opens in Philly Tonight.

InterAct Theater’s production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity opens tonight.

Today, I did an interview on WHYY, alongside Juan Pacheco (Mace) and Tony “Hitman” Stetson (wrestling consultant).  It’s pretty awesome, I think.

The Chad Deity video promo.

Now this is cool.

Our First Review.

I’m not sure we’re officially open for reviews, but you gotta love bloggers who are excited about what they see. Here are some highlights:

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz is the play we saw and I’m still catching my breath. I have never believed an actor more than I believed Desmin Borges as Mace. Except for how much I believed Usman Ally as Vigneshwar Paduar.

…

I left breathless and it took me an hour to catch my breath. A day later, thinking about the final scenes, my chest tightens again. This show is brilliant. This show will win award after award after award. You need more from me than that, don’t you?

…

(and this is my favorite) When he breaks through the fourth wall and we react to him – the way we’re supposed to – you see that the character is tickled he’s having that response. (It’s like when the kids have to clap to wake Tinkerbell up, but better).

We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s nice to see that some people are digging it already.

Rehearsal: The Wall.

So in the last post, I came back to rehearsal to discover our ring, all constructed and ready to go.  And after a few days of playing with it, we came back after a day off to discover…this:

And yes, my mind is starting to be blown.

Not a great pic, but this is the frame for one of the two video screens that hang above the ring.

It takes a whole lot of paint to pull this back wall off.

And it's all got to be labeled to keep it straight. Graf and scorpions -- could we be any more masculine?

It's not in my contract that all my shows have to have some graffiti on the set, but it's getting pretty close.

No, wrestling fans, I didn't ask for this tribute to my favorite wrestler growing up, but it's nice to have the Stinger represented hard.

Our turnbuckles now have pads, and our ring mat now has a cover.

Soon, this will be a tiger. Maybe even by the time I get to rehearsal today.

And it's all overseen by the wrestling guys. Not dolls, not action figures. Wrestling guys. Corporal Kirschner, Tazz (WWF spelling), and...well, some guy. No one can figure out who he is.

Chad Deity in Time Out Chicago.

I’ve always wanted to be in Time Out New York, but Time Out Chicago got there first:

Playwright Kristoffer Diaz is describing the plot of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, his new play about small-time professional wrestlers. “I think [pro wrestling is] a really wonderful art form. But it does tend to play to the lowest common denominator, which means it can be really racist and sexist and homophobic,” he says. “It plays to stereotypes in a really huge way.” That kind of pigeonholing is precisely what Ignition, the new Victory Gardens initiative that’s bringing Chad Deity to the stage, is meant to combat.

Rehearsal: Retreat and Ring.

So in our last post, the stage floor had been painted, and a little cut out had been left for the ring.  Then I went on a retreat with my fellow Jerome Fellows (along with the McKnights and all kinds of other awesome folks).

Tofte Lake, home of Norm's Fish Camp.

You can't tell, but this is a sauna. At night, you'd start here (up to 200 degrees)...

...and then you jump into the lake here. And scream loud. And curse. It was cold. And awesome.

Even city boys can appreciate nature.

This is what a retreat is supposed to be, right?

And I come home (home?) to Chicago, and this is what’s waiting for me:

And yes, I immediately climbed into it and bounced off the ropes. Words cannot express what it feels like to discover your own personal wrestling ring.

More more more soon soon soon.

Finally…More Rehearsal Pics.

Sorry for the delay. A whole lot of work has happened since last post…and here is some documentation.

So first, our floor got painted.

This is where the ring will go.

I don't think I'm giving anything away to say that there's a trap. Someone, at some point, will come up from here.

Desmin takes it all in. He'll spend a lot of time on this stage over the next month plus.

Oh, and this poster is up outside the theater now. Life-size and all.

Lots more following very, very soon.  I mean it this time.

(The sets are designed by Brian Sidney Bembridge, FYI.)

Usman Ally on Chad Deity.

Usman is one of the stars of the Victory Gardens production (alongside Desmin Borges, Kamal Angelo Bolden, James Krag, and Christian Litke).  He’s blogging about the show.  You should be reading what he’s writing.

I’m writing this from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, on my way back to Chicago.  I just did a podcast interview…which you should be able to hear on Monday.  More pics should follow later this weekend too.

And for those waiting for more of The Wire…be patient.  Technical difficulties.

First Chad Deity Rehearsal Pics!

I’ve been a little behind in my posting of these, but my excuse is that I’ve been up at Norm’s Fish Camp, getting shredded by mosquitoes. But now, without further ado, here are pictures from the first day of rehearsal at Victory Gardens’ Biograph Theater:

This poster is in the window at The Biograph. There's an even larger one, more than life-size one that I'll shoot soon.

The two shows that make up the Ignition Festival. You're expected to see both.

Like any show, we start with table work and a first read. Here, Kamal and Christian talk about all the bone-crunching things they're going to get to do to Desmin.

Some people say this is a show about penises. I, on the other hand, think it's a show about falling. Right after the first read, fight choreographer David Woolley started teaching the boys how not to break their necks when they get thrown to the ground.

One of the first moves we learned was the armbar. The important thing here is the sell, not the move itself. You've got to make it *look* like it hurts. You can't kick a guy's ass in wrestling with the help of the guy whose ass you're kicking.

And this is how the whole process feels. A wonderful blur.

Next time, I’ll post from our first off-site rehearsals, with lots of pics of squats and fight choreography, and even some video. Of powerbombs.  For real.

If you’ve got Flickr, you can see more right now.

Quick Updates.

1.  The Wire series is on hold for a second while I figure out how to get this damn DVD player to work.

2. I still can’t get into Mad Men, although I’m giving it time.  I don’t dislike it, but it’s just cigarette porn to me.

3. Rehearsals for Chad Deity are awesome.  It’s been mainly fight choreography.  Wrestling choreography.  We’ve almost worked up to the powerbomb.  It’s a little crazy to watch.  I’ve got videos and pictures galore, but I can’t share them until I’ve got union clearance.  Working on it.

4. Tickets are onsale, by the way.

5. For Year Zero too.

6. There’s a lot of great stuff happening in Chicago in September theaterwise.  It’s going to be a hell of a month.  You should be here.