“If you get the impression ['The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity'] is more than body slams and airplane spins, you're right... 'Chad Deity' explores the new way the United States is looking at itself and the way the rest of the world sees it... Director Jon Tracy makes good use of his talented cast to underline this on a set comprised mainly by a half-sized wrestling ring, from which the ideas seem to boil.”
- Pat Craig, San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area News Group
“[The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity] offers all the carnal thrills of seeing a real match from ringside seats but also the more refined pleasures of high art: complex characters, resonant themes, poetic writing, and an action-packed story.”
- Lily Janiak and Benjamin Wachs, SF Weekly
“This is a very different kind of show for the Aurora, and that’s fantastic. Some companies open their seasons with a bang... The Aurora opens its season with a theatrical ass-whoopin’, but that’s OK. They have full permission from the smiling audience to whoop its collective ass.”
- Chad Jones, theaterdogs
“Aurora Theatre Company’s Bay Area premiere production is dazzling, sharply staged by Jon Tracy... it’s awfully entertaining in the writing, the performance and the production elements...it’s a win. ”
- Sam Hurwitt, The Idiolect
Cast
Rod Gnapp / Everett K. “EKO” Olson
Nasser Khan / Vigneshwar “VP” Paduar
Dave Maier / The Bad Guy, Billy Heartland, Old Glory
Beethovan Oden / Chad Deity
Tony Sancho / Macedonio “The Mace” Guerra
Creative Team
Nina Ball / Scenic
Mia Baxter, Seren Helday / Properties
Cliff Caruthers / Sound
Jim Gross / Video
Kurt Landisman / Light
Dave Maier / Fight
Angela Nostrand / Stage Manager
Maggie Whitaker / Costume Designer