The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

In this wrestling-themed, diesel-fueled showbiz-drama-cum-race-satire, playwright Kristoffer Diaz and his ingenious director, Edward Torres, create a giddily adrenalized, primary-hued circus of racial signifiers and cultural buzzwords to critique political narratives in a post-9/11 America. This is a savvy, Pulitzer-worthy story about race, class, wealth and social mobility, wrapped in a bombastic level of showmanship you won’t see outside of opera or, naturally, a real pay-per-view WWE extravaganza.—David Cote