Mirror Stage to Present THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY

Sponsored in part by 4Culture, Mirror Stage's 10th Feed Your Mind season closes with The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz on April 11 & 12, 2015 at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre in Seattle's University District. Directed by Suzanne M. Cohen, Feed Your Mind: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity features Eric Ray Anderson (Everett K. Olson), Marcel Davis (Chad Deity), David Natale (Ring Announcer/Joe Jabroni/Billy Heartland/Old Glory), Arvind Srinivasan (Vigneshwar Paduar), and Jake Ynzunza (Macedonia Guerra).

Behind Every Winner There's a Great Loser. This 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist is a no-holds-barred satirical smackdown set in the larger-than-life world of professional wrestling. Tired of making other pro wrestlers look good, Macedonio "The Mace" Guerra recruits a smart-mouthed Indian to dethrone the current All-American champ, Chad Deity. When the rivalry is used to exploit racial stereotypes, this smart, hilarious powerslam of a play pins pop culture to the mat while throwing political correctness out of the ring. WARNING: VERY STRONG LANGUAGE. Intended for mature audiences.

Kristoffer Diaz is a playwright and educator living in Brooklyn. His full-length titles also include Welcome to Arroyo's, Guernica, f-ing Vigwan (or Swag), and #therevolution. Awards include 2011 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award; finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; winner, 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play; and winner, 2011 OBIE Award, Best New American Play. Diaz is a playwright-in-residence at Teatro Vista; a resident playwright at New Dramatists; a co-founder of the Unit Collective (Minneapolis); and a recipient of the Jerome Fellowship, the Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant, and the Van Lier Fellowship (New Dramatists). He holds a BA from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, an MFA from NYU's Department of Dramatic Writing, and an MFA from Brooklyn College's Performing Arts Management program.

Mirror Stage's innovative Feed Your Mind series of staged readings examines topical issues from different perspectives. The plays are presented simply: no costumes or sets-just the actors and the text. Following every performance, a moderated discussion with the audience and artists further explores the issues raised in more depth. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity considers how notions of race are manipulated, distorted and turned inside out in the name of entertainment in the United States.

The Ethnic Cultural Theatre is located at 3940 Brooklyn Ave NE in Seattle. Performances will be Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm. Admission is $10; $5 for students and seniors. Every performance has 10 Pay-What-You-Can rush tickets ($1 minimum) for purchase at the door. Free parking is available in University of Washington's lot W12, located at just south of the Ethnic Cultural Theater on Brooklyn Ave NE. For more information, visit www.mirrorstage.org/chaddeity.

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