Kristoffer Diaz's unusual, thought-provoking play, directed by Edward Torres, premiered in 2009 at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago before moving to Second Stage Theatre in New York and now to Los Angeles.
Desmin Borges, with the show since Chicago, plays Mace, a Puerto Rican fall-guy wrestler. Usman Ally, likewise a veteran of the production, plays VP, an Indian-American Brooklynite recruited by Mace. Terence Archie, who joined the cast in New York, plays Chad Deity, the African-American champion.
The three perceptive actors spoke with Back Stage during preview week.
Back Stage: How did you show everyone involved in casting this play that you were right for the roles?
Desmin Borges: Very rarely do you see a Puerto Rican playing a Puerto Rican. That's one thing Kris [Diaz] and I talked about, that it was just like a little match made in heaven. Right off the bat, we had very similar childhoods. So in this play, when I started the monologue about my brothers—I don't have them; I had cousins. Kris doesn't have brothers; he had cousins. We both ate not-brand-name frosted flakes. We used to practice doing elbow drops off the couch, on our cousins. So, very early on, we just clicked.
Usman Ally: The character of VP, when I was talking to Kris about him, it was like, a very large amount of it is my own lifestyle. I was involved in hip-hop and being South Asian and wanting to play a South Asian—but not a South Asian who's got an Indian accent and is a cab driver—but being able to play something very authentic. So it was evident for us in that room that we all vibed together very well. And Des and I seemed to hit it off pretty much very quickly in terms of our rhythm and how we speak onstage in the roles.
Terence Archie: I joined the production in New York. My agent sent me a breakdown looking for a physical actor who could possibly look like a wrestler. Now, back then, I was probably 25 pounds lighter. But I still had an aptitude to put on muscle if I needed. So I started going through the audition process. I took a picture of myself as Chad Deity—what I thought Chad Deity would look like. I Photoshopped it and I gave it to the director during my audition. I said, "This is Chad Deity right here." It was a picture of me in [strikes an exaggerated muscle pose]. I would tear my shirt right in the middle of the audition.
Back Stage: Tell us about bringing a newcomer into a cast that was tight and chummy and had its way of doing things.
Borges: From the very first time I met Terence, it was very easy. We were at the table [read] and we got done with the first act, and I remember just looking at us and feeling the energy in the room, and it was like, "We found it. We found an amazing fit." All of us are pretty much from the Midwest: [Usman] is a transplant to the Midwest; I'm originally born in Chicago; Terence was born in Detroit. Kris has spent a lot of time coming back there, being a resident writer with us. We had this Midwest "We do it for the art." I remember at first talking to Us, being like, "Man, Terence is quiet when he's offstage." 'Cause onstage he's a monster. He's like charismatic as all hell, taking it all over the place; you can't help but smile and watch this guy, especially when his pecs are dancing all over the place. And then one day we were in the dressing room and I said something about Aaron Neville, and all of a sudden I got the best Aaron Neville impression I've ever heard in my life. Would you give us a little bit of it real quick?
Archie: [Sings a commercial jingle in Neville's voice.]
Borges: From that point forward, there was no stopping Terence. Man was dancing, singing, everywhere, always coming around in his robe.
Ally: It was interesting, because you do think about those things when you've got a show and a cast and then it changes. You're like, what's going to happen? Moving from Chicago to New York, you're suddenly like, what if they get a big star in there? Terence is a big star. But it became evident in that first reading that Terence brought an experience to the role, and that's exactly what Chad Deity is. He's an experienced guy; he's been in the business for a while. [To Archie] Not to say that you're old. But here's somebody who as an actor really understands the craft of how to dissect this role. And that became very evident, like Des was saying, the first reading.
Back Stage: What were some of the character choices you made early on that have stayed with you, and what were some you discarded?
Ally: There's a scene towards the end when I abandon Mace; I kick him in the face and I tell him that I don't want to do this anymore. When we did it in Chicago, it was a very emotionally gut-wrenching scene. I would be in tears sometimes because I would feel it—the conflict. And now, just thinking about it more, doing the show in New York, seeing what Carroll Gardens [in Brooklyn] is like, coming here, and also being older—it's only been two and a half years, but a lot has happened, and the way I respond to it is also based on how I've grown up a little bit. I can sort of separate myself a little bit and understand that not everything has to be as emotionally driven. There is a separation the characters can have from emotions and just do things based on what they want.
Borges: This play is sort of therapeutic, 'cause my father passed away when I was 15. So when I go through [the play], I hear my father's voice all the time. And before we ever did the first reading, my grandmother died the day before we did the first professional reading. So the connection that I have with my family is somehow embedded into this script. Man, I don't like to think about seeing my father and my grandmother in a casket all the time and all the sh** that they taught me, but it helps me go all the way through the story, and if I don't do it, I lose something from it. So there's where I shut my brain off and I'm not going to go there, and I don't tell the story the correct way. And the nights when I do have it, the story just flies from me.
Archie: All I feel I need to know these days, from acting as long as I have, which is about 15 years, I just need to know the exposition, I need to know what people say about me, and what I say about myself. That's really the basic information. If I have that, I know I always have something to fall back on. I have a repertoire of choices I can make because I'm confident in my exposition, I'm confident what my history is. I always try to impress myself every night. I try to surprise myself. That's what makes it fun for me.
Back Stage: What is your most physically challenging moment and your most actorly challenging moment?
Archie: The most physically challenging moment is whenever I pick these guys up and throw them down on the floor, or whenever I hit [Usman] with a chair, because I'm such a softie; I don't want to hurt these guys. So anytime [Usman] falls, I'm like, "Oh, I hope he's okay." Or anytime I drop Desmin on his back, from like five or six feet in the air, I'm like, "Oh, I hope this guy's okay." Acting in between the moments, that's something else; that's not as hard as making sure I know these guys are okay.
Borges: The most difficult thing for me physically is finding time to breathe. We got to New York, and it's a whole different theater audience—how fast New Yorkers talk and the way New York sort of moves, we realized I could tell the story faster and take like 10 minutes off the show. But we needed it in order for me to stay ahead of the audience. [In L.A.] I'm able to start taking some breath in places. Not that L.A. audiences aren't intelligent or don't know what's going on or that things fly over their head, but just the atmosphere of Los Angeles is a little bit more laid-back, and we can actually let moments land and sit there and let them think about them. I'm finding these moments of where I'm actually able to breathe again; however, there still are moments in the play, specifically the very last monologue I have, where I basically fight everyone onstage and deliver a three-page monologue at the same time. By the time I get to the point where [Terence] picks me up in the air and power-bombs me, I couldn't be happier to have my back on the mat, having nothing else to say, because I finally get a chance to just lay there. I think physically and actorwise it's the same thing: finding places to breathe so I don't interrupt the story and that I continue the pace of the show and that I don't pass out onstage.
Ally: VP exists a lot onstage sometimes, especially in Act 2, without saying anything, but he's there taking in a lot of things, and a lot of the character development is not in the lines; I have to find it in myself and figure it out. The first act, I do a lot of talking, and then at the end of the second act, I have a big monologue again. Right before the end of Act 1, I jump from speaking about Chad Deity and wrestling to Puerto Rico and mandated sterilization—which is great because I understand where it's coming from, because I do that all the time when I'm going off on a rant with my friends and I'm talking about the ills and the vices of this world. But it is still hard to do that and keep the audience with me on my side so that I'm not talking at them. Physically, for me, all the kicks are tough. But there's one in particular, when I kick [the character] Old Glory in the face. Even though it's very satisfying kicking somebody with an American flag all over his body, it is difficult because in Chicago we had an instance where I did the kick and Christian Litke took the kick, and I made contact and gave him an orbital blowout. He had to get a bunch of stitches, and there was a lot of blood. For me it was a very traumatic experience, 'cause I'm not a wrestler—I'm an actor. So every time I get into that position, I have to take a few breaths and think, "Okay, he's going to be fine."
Back Stage: What do you do to warm up before the show, and what do you do to cool down?
Borges: It started in Chicago: The very first two hours of rehearsal is us at the gym, working out, building up muscles which we have to fall on, and our, just, vanity. We get back to the rehearsal room, we do a whole group warm-up before we do fight call, then we do fight call to make sure everything is in place. Then we do the show, and the show by itself is a frickin' workout. And then, after that, I just kind of sit in a chair; sometimes I take a little swig of bourbon. I have to eat something very quickly. I have about 90 minutes after the show in which I'm on a high, and then I crash, and I usually sleep for 10 hours after the show. It helps me recoup physically but also vocally. When I don't get nine or 10 hours, I can feel the difference the next night that we do the show.
Ally: We all have to hit different things in the play. For me, I have to make sure I'm stretched out in the legs for all those kicks. The show is exhausting—the fight stuff, but then the "entrances." Those entrances are tiring, man, running down those aisles and jumpin' in the ring and then getting straight into some lines as well. Once the show's over, I'm on a little bit of a high, but then within an hour, my body just wants to shut down.
Archie: In addition to working out, I don't do a lot of preparation before the show, besides just warming my voice up, listening to some music that puts me in a positive state of mind, and I just try to get in touch with myself—make sure I feel like I'm my best self that night. That's ultimately what I'm putting out on the stage: a heightened, manic version of myself, so I try to make sure I'm not off-center.
Ally: Music is huge backstage. Every single one of our dressing rooms has music blaring out of it.
Borges: In New York, since the spaces are so small, all five of us were in one dressing room. I think before every show, we listened to "No Diggity." I haven't yet [in Los Angeles], because I feel like I'm cheating on us. We have our own dressing rooms now, so I'm not gonna throw "No Diggity" on because the doors are closed. I'm not gonna rock "No Diggity" by myself.
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" continues at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., L.A., through Oct. 9. (310) 208-5454. www.geffenplayhouse.com.
