The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

Well I just haven't written in a while. But I must talk about The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz. However I must also mention that this spring I went to see Cavallia (which should come with a parental warning label: Do not bring your tween daughters to this show unless you can fork out for a pony) and it snowed in LA while we were in the tent. Otherwise it was a typical Cirque show - a big marshmallow of a spectacle but nothing that sticks to your ribs. But horses, how can you go wrong? We also saw Mark Morris' Allegro at the music center. It was wonderful, a lovely, witty pastoral. At one moment the tallest female dancer (who was tall) and the smallest female dancer (who was a real shrimp) walked diagonally across the stage, tall one leading, holding hands like a mother and child. And two men came and lifted the smaller dancer up in the air so she became a lost balloon, floating away. Lovely images, the part where the men danced together and then slapped one another elaborating on male attraction and homophobia, the fox hunt. All lovely.

However, Chad Diety is just a blow away event. It's really one of the best things I've seen in ages.

It touches on a lot of the things I find important in art - how do you tell a story within the confines of the art form you are using? Set in the world of Wrestling, a male version of the soap opera (did I say that? Yes I did! Take that guys!) that tells jingoistic stories of humiliation, defeat and victory. But our protagonist, a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, Macedonio Guerra wants to tell a different story about America. A story where people collaborate to put on a show - because Macdeonio is the guy in wrestling who is an actual wrestler who job it is is to make the bigger beefcake guys who can't wrestle look good. And the beefcake - Chad Deity, who is the wrestling star attraction - is supposed to make sure that the other guy doesn't get hurt. This collaboration is the hidden heart of the wrestling world. You have to be really good to make the other guy look good while you are getting beaten up. It was a fascinating look at who is telling the story.