Kristoffer Díaz's 'The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity' Wrestles with Perceptions (New York Daily News, May 5, 2009)

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Kristoffer Díaz's 'The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity' wrestles with perceptions

Erasmo Guerra
Wednesday, May 5th 2010, 9:13 AM

By his own admission, Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Díaz is a "wrestling nerd."

In one corner of the ring, Old Glory, a blond, blue-eyed wrestler, waves the Stars and Stripes, and in the other, the Fundamentalist, a ridiculous mashup of every Middle Eastern stereotype, wears gold lamé trunks and a suicide-bomber vest.

There are moments in the Pulitzer-nominated play "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" - which is in previews at Second Stage Theatre for a May 20 opening - when you're not sure if you're at a misguided sports extravaganza or a hilarious Off-Broadway show that unmasks how the country's fear of terrorists is exploited and marketed to the masses.

"I was a big fan of the guys who were small and could wrestle," said Brooklyn playwright Kristoffer Díaz, 32, a sweats- and Timbs-wearing hip hopper and self-described "wrestling nerd."

Born in Yonkers to New York-Puerto Rican parents, Díaz and his family were devoted followers of the National Wrestling Alliance. He was a fan of Ric Flair and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, bad-boy stars of the '80s and '90s whom the crowd loved to hate.

"They were still technically skilled and found other ways to succeed," Díaz said in their defense.

Díaz always rooted for the underdogs. "Guys who were never the big star but were the ultimate team player," he said.

They were the inspiration for Macedonio (The Mace) Guerra, the lumpy, sad-bodied narrator of "Chad," who is an obsessive geek of the grapple. In his monologues and asides to the audience, Mace tells the story of what's really going on in the ring with a rapper's rhythm and street musicality that Díaz said was influenced by his own years in musical theater.

"I was a song-and-dance man," Díaz said. In high school, he performed in musicals, and he continued his theater studies at NYU. While in college, wrestling became "cool" with such megastar headliners as The Rock, but Díaz was also spending a lot of time in Broadway theaters.

"I would walk in to see a Broadway show on a Wednesday matinee ... and sit down in the eighth row next to blue-haired old ladies to watch 'Crazy for You' and totally get into the show."

When "Chad" was produced last fall for a five-week run at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater, it was the first time Díaz's work had been given a full production, and speculation circulated online that it was a possible contender for a Pulitzer.

The day the winners - along with the finalists - were announced in early April, Díaz was on a flight to New York for a rehearsal of "Chad."

When he touched down and turned on his phone, it started buzzing with congratulatory text messages for being a finalist.

"I started freaking out a little," he admitted with a laugh.

Though his play didn't take the top prize, he's still stunned by the recognition.

Comparing the honor to a moment in "Chad," Díaz said, "There's a line in the play where Mace says, 'I never expected to get this close to championship gold.'"

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