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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2022)
Page 8 October 19, 2022 Arts & ENTERTAINMENT The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity Opinionated Judge by Darleen Ortega There is no better reason to visit a the- ater in Portland right now than Profile Theater's fantastic production of a fantas- tic play, "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity." The show is entertaining, smart, and will take you as deep as you are will- ing to go. Kristoffer Diaz's play, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, is set in the world of professional wrestling where, as our guide Macedonio (Mace) Guerra ex- plains, the job of the really skilled wres- tlers is to make the mediocre ones look amazing. (That noticing reverberates for some of us beyond the world of profes- sional wrestling--and it's meant to.) In the fictional world of THE Wrestling, that means Mace's regular gig is to lose spec- tacularly to the anointed champion, Chad Deity--and though both of them know the game is rigged, Chad treats the conse- quences (which include acclaim and cash for Chad but not for Mace) as legitimate. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is playing at the Profile Theatre And, in a way, so does Mace--he under- stands his role and doesn't resent it, much. Both Mace, who is Puerto Rican, and Chad, who is Black, are essentially em- ployed as characters curated by Everett K. Olsen (or EKO), the CEO of THE Wres- tling who capitalizes on racial stereotypes to whip up audience enthusiasm. Mace narrates aptly what is happening, and de- fends it enough that one can wonder who As the Year Winds Down… The weather cools. The kids return to school. Some of us even start planning for the upcoming holiday season. Overall, the pace of life can seem slow in autumn, and that might mean more time staying indoors and turning more to devices for entertainment. For some people, that could mean that gambling online becomes more of a pastime. But there’s good news; you don’t have to let gambling dominate your life. Free Help and Support If gambling begins to take up too much space in your life, or stops being fun for you, help is available. Through the Oregon Problem Gambling Resource (OPGR), people having issues with gambling, and those who love them, can get support from trained counselors, often right from home. Counseling is effective. Professionals are ready and waiting to provide better mechanisms to cope and to heal. And, best of all, it’s free. All it takes is a phone call, a text, or an online chat to get started. Reach out. Let this season be your season for change. he is trying to convince. The only real justification is that this sells--and is that a justification? In the course of the play, Mace finds hope and possibly a powerful kindred soul in Vi- gneshwa Paduar (VP), a Brooklyn man of Indian descent who energetically inhabits a variety of charismatic and comic perso- nas. Mace decides to pitch VP to EKO as his next big wrestling star but EKO doesn’t see it as Mace is pitching it. Instead, EKO tumbles on the idea of casting VP as . . . the Fundamentalist, a terrorist challenger to Chad and to all that Americans hold dear. Mace, cast as a similarly menacing Mexi- can, will accompany the Fundamentalist to the ring as his manager. The play's action is funny and swift and physical. It also is astute. Wres- tling is depicted realistically, and as a particularly clear embodiment of how capitalism and American dream mythol- ogy trades and depends on racist ste- reotypes, mirroring our values back to us. Mace, in his hopeful way, seeks to enlist VP as a means of asserting more agency; he seeks a less confining place from which to operate. As the play Continued on Page 11
