The Santa Fe Reporter from Santa Fe, New Mexico • Page 13

THEATRE Sharon Niederman MeltingPot Meltdown he problems of assimilation are familiar stage and film fare. In 1922, a play called "Abie's Irish Rose," about the romance between a Jewish boy and an Irish girl, was a big Broadway hit; then, six years later, the silent film of the same name became a smash. It was re-made in 1946. The TV version, "Bridget Loves Bernie," played in 1972. The list grows longer as each succeeding immigrant group adds its story.

In fact, popular culture treatments are one way we have of dealing with the havoc oecoming American" wreaks in the family. The message to the younger generation is as American as gnocchi, gefilte fish and green chile: "Rememberyour roots" and, simultaneously, "erase your ethnicity." That's a meal designed for heartburn as well as heartbreak, of which there is plenty in Luis Valdez' "I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges," playing at the New Mexico Rep, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, through Oct 10. Distinguished writer-activist Valdez founded El Teatro Campesino, the street theater that dramatized the farmworkers' struggle and the grape boycotts of the '60s. With his "Zoot Suit," he became the first Chicano to have a play produced on Broadway; and his movie script, "La Bamba," also was a huge hit Unfortunately, the excitement Valdez generatedinpastworksjs notpresentin HOME SfiQMSE: Rodney Rincon and Tessa Konig-Martinez play the bit-part Hollywood actor parents of Demetrius Navarro in Luis Valdez' "I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges, "StinkingBadges." Despite the top-notch cast from Teatro Campesino and superb direction from Amy Gonzalez, the play degenerates from a tightly-paced, humorous first act into a puzzle of confusion in the second. By using the device of switching back and forth between "reality" and "it's only a movie," Valdez not only thwarts the audience's natural empathy with the characters, he substitutes gimmicks for charac- ter development And stale gimmicks, at that The TV monitors on either side of the stage pan the audience to remind us that the media steals our identity and that we're all responsible.

Although the problem of assimilation is advertised here as strictly the Chicano version, it's difficult to discover what is distinctly Chicano about this tale. Sure, there's an Aztec calendar over me middle- class family mantel. And sure, the distraught young Harvard (where else?) dropout, Sonny (Demetrius Navarro), dons standard-issue gang gear (Pendleton shirt and bandana) when stepping out for mischief. His "outsider" girlfriend, the cradle-robbing, pill-popping dancer, Anita (Leslie Ishii), is Japanese-American. But this play does little to reveal "the heart of AtzlaiL" Hollywood bit actors Buddy Villa (Rodney Rincon) and his wife, Connie Villa (Tessa Konig-Martinez) have all the joys and disappointments of the righteous, struggling middle daughter practicing medicine in Phoenix; a son studying law at you-know-where; an empty nest We feel for them.

Both Rincon and Konig- Martinez deliver vital, upbeat performances. But Sonny, the prodigy, can't handle the dislocation. He doesn't belong anywhere. He is 16. He is depressed.

He is flipping out Instead of going to watch the ducks in Central Park with Holden Cauifield, he comes home to LA (that convenient, if despised, nest of comfort) and decides to try showbiz, but not before he sticks up alocal conveniencestore. Navarro gives a concentrated, intense performance in an overall well-cast play. Ishii, too, does an excellent job. What is the message here? That there are too many stereotypes on TV? That life is a TV show? Thatlife is amovie? That we can't tell the difference? Maybe Luis Valdez can't tell the difference, but the rest of us sure can. NO, clot he who re to I advanced clothing men women 134 988.2256 10-7 m-s 11-5 sun Join Us at the Villa Linda Mall this Sunday at for BIG SISTERS 5FSUTHE Truck Raffle ORDER by PHONE 1993 Ford Ranger 4x2 Splash Drawing Sunday, courtesy of Copilol Ford Octobers, 1993 and Special Prizes wlh a value 4pm ot Vita Linda Mnl! of SI 00 or more from: Sears Wnus'ft-thtlwiifntivHiHi Universal Jewelers Oplical Last chance to order tickets by phone: 988-1041 1 for $1O 3 for $25 6 for $50 12 for $1OO Nelson Martinez will be there to MC and announce the winner! .24 Sept.

29-Oct. 5, 1993 SANTA FE REPORTER.