No ‘Badges’ at Irvine Barclay--Tour Is Canceled

IRVINE — El Teatro Campesino has canceled its national touring version of Luis Valdez’s “I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!” which was due Feb. 16 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“I was told they have encountered financial difficulties and because of that could not go on with their national tour,” Irvine Barclay President Douglas C. Rankin said Friday. The production was to have been part of the Irvine Barclay’s 1994 theater subscription series.

The Northern California-based company, which is headquartered in San Juan Bautista, could not be reached. A recorded message Friday afternoon said its office was closed.

But a spokesman for California Artists Management in San Francisco, which booked the national tour, confirmed that it had been canceled.

The El Teatro Campesino production was a revival of Valdez’s 1986 play. Valdez, who founded the company, is perhaps best known for “Zoot Suit.”

A new play of his, “Bandido,” is scheduled to have its world premiere June 9 at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. “I don’t think our production will be affected by this development,” Taper spokesman Ken Werther said Friday. “There has been no indication of that to me.”

Rankin said the Irvine Barclay would be mailing notices of the cancellation today and would be offering refunds. The other production in the Irvine Barclay series--”Gray’s Anatomy,” a monologue by Spalding Gray--is still expected at the theater May 1 for a one-night engagement.