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Yow! This play rocked!
As part of of my Victory Gardens theater series this year, I got to choose a play from the new Ignition play festival which features emerging playwrights of color. There wasn't much information on the two plays at the time so I made a blind pick for the above. All I knew was that it written by a young Latino playwright named Kristoffer Diaz and featured actors from Teatro Vista a well thought of Latino theater group.
Victory Garden is known as the "playwrights theater" in Chicago. It features new works by up and coming playwrights. Most of the time, the plays are being produced for the first time, and often the playwright is on hand observing the audience's reaction to the work.
Plot Summary
A young Latino Wrestler, (played by Desmin Borges) with THE Wrestling is destined to spend his career as the fall guy until he discovers a young East Indian hip hop rapper (played by Usman Ally) with a killer kick. His dream of an Eastern Mystic wrestler goes off track as the owner of THE Wrestling (played by James Krag) decides to cast him in the role of The Terrorist taking on and beating iconic wrestlers Old Glory (complete with American Flag), Billy Heartland and Joe Jabroni (all played by Cristian Litke). The Latino wrestler (from Puerto Rico) gets cast as his manager, a Sombrero wearing Poncho Villa character whose goal is to flood America with illegal immigrants and steal all the good jobs from Americans.
The plan is for him to then face and be beaten by the champion, Chad Diety, a cocky, charismatic black wrestler who is a combination of the ego of Mohammad Ali and the all American virtues of someone like the late Chicago Bear's running back Walter Payton.
At the last moment, the owner decides that The Terrorist will win the match so that the saga of Chad Diety's eventual triumphal comeback will have greater impact. I won't give away the ending, but needless to say things don't go according to plan.
My Reaction
Pro wrestling has always featured these types of stories. Its good versus evil (with the USA always being the good role) and not surprisingly in recent years there have been several story lines revolving around Middle Eastern or Terrorist bad guys. Beyond a validation of middle America's smug belief in its own superiority, I never understood the appeal of pro-wrestling. But viewing it as a legitimate theatrical art form brought me a whole new perspective on the medium.
The cast members were uniformly superb. The standout for me was Desmin Borges as Macedonio Guerra, the mid-ranked fall guy wrestler. His smart, funny and poignant commentary on pro-wrestling as metaphor for life was pitched at just the right level. The other individuals are played more like stereotypes of pro-wrestling, you only get the smallest glimpses of the person behind the role. Macedonio pulls back the curtain on his wresting persona revealing a complex, intelligent, knowing man who is trying to make a living doing something he is increasingly disenchanted with.
I thoroughly enjoyed this play and it gave me a new respect for the people who play the good and bad guy roles in the world of pro-wresting. But I have to admit that I probably won't be watching pro-wrestling on TV anytime soon.
I was very pleased to read that Mr. Diaz has now been added to Victory Gardens roster of resident playwrights. The presentation of the stories of those outside of the white middle class establishment have been an increasing focus at Victory Gardens and Mr. Diaz looks to be an important voice in this endeavor.
You can see video clips of the show at:
http://victorygardens.org/content/node/1321
For more information about Teatro Vista:
http://teatrovista.org/home.html
As part of of my Victory Gardens theater series this year, I got to choose a play from the new Ignition play festival which features emerging playwrights of color. There wasn't much information on the two plays at the time so I made a blind pick for the above. All I knew was that it written by a young Latino playwright named Kristoffer Diaz and featured actors from Teatro Vista a well thought of Latino theater group.
Victory Garden is known as the "playwrights theater" in Chicago. It features new works by up and coming playwrights. Most of the time, the plays are being produced for the first time, and often the playwright is on hand observing the audience's reaction to the work.
Plot Summary
A young Latino Wrestler, (played by Desmin Borges) with THE Wrestling is destined to spend his career as the fall guy until he discovers a young East Indian hip hop rapper (played by Usman Ally) with a killer kick. His dream of an Eastern Mystic wrestler goes off track as the owner of THE Wrestling (played by James Krag) decides to cast him in the role of The Terrorist taking on and beating iconic wrestlers Old Glory (complete with American Flag), Billy Heartland and Joe Jabroni (all played by Cristian Litke). The Latino wrestler (from Puerto Rico) gets cast as his manager, a Sombrero wearing Poncho Villa character whose goal is to flood America with illegal immigrants and steal all the good jobs from Americans.
The plan is for him to then face and be beaten by the champion, Chad Diety, a cocky, charismatic black wrestler who is a combination of the ego of Mohammad Ali and the all American virtues of someone like the late Chicago Bear's running back Walter Payton.
At the last moment, the owner decides that The Terrorist will win the match so that the saga of Chad Diety's eventual triumphal comeback will have greater impact. I won't give away the ending, but needless to say things don't go according to plan.
My Reaction
Pro wrestling has always featured these types of stories. Its good versus evil (with the USA always being the good role) and not surprisingly in recent years there have been several story lines revolving around Middle Eastern or Terrorist bad guys. Beyond a validation of middle America's smug belief in its own superiority, I never understood the appeal of pro-wrestling. But viewing it as a legitimate theatrical art form brought me a whole new perspective on the medium.
The cast members were uniformly superb. The standout for me was Desmin Borges as Macedonio Guerra, the mid-ranked fall guy wrestler. His smart, funny and poignant commentary on pro-wrestling as metaphor for life was pitched at just the right level. The other individuals are played more like stereotypes of pro-wrestling, you only get the smallest glimpses of the person behind the role. Macedonio pulls back the curtain on his wresting persona revealing a complex, intelligent, knowing man who is trying to make a living doing something he is increasingly disenchanted with.
I thoroughly enjoyed this play and it gave me a new respect for the people who play the good and bad guy roles in the world of pro-wresting. But I have to admit that I probably won't be watching pro-wrestling on TV anytime soon.
I was very pleased to read that Mr. Diaz has now been added to Victory Gardens roster of resident playwrights. The presentation of the stories of those outside of the white middle class establishment have been an increasing focus at Victory Gardens and Mr. Diaz looks to be an important voice in this endeavor.
You can see video clips of the show at:
http://victorygardens.org/content/node/1321
For more information about Teatro Vista:
http://teatrovista.org/home.html
