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‘Frida’ Protest Derails Valdez’s ‘Bandido’

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Luis Valdez’s film “Frida and Diego” isn’t the only project put on hold because of recent protests over his decision to cast a non-Latina as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Valdez has also nixed plans for his company, El Teatro Campesino, to produce his musical “Bandido” in October at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco.

The play is based on the true story of Tiburcio Vasquez, a 19th-Century figure hailed by Mexican-Americans as a Robin Hood-like resistance fighter but labeled a bandit and murderer by California law authorities. The production, supported by a grant from AT&T;, was to have been directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, head of the Latino Lab formerly at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. But Valenzuela’s wife, actress Evelina Fernandez, was among those protesting Valdez’s casting of actress Laura San Giacomo as Kahlo.

“The whole process of art is personal and intimate,” said Valdez, speaking from his San Juan Bautista office. “To pretend that the ‘Frida’ protest did not have a part (in canceling “Bandido”) is not realistic. We decided under the circumstances that it might be better to take a second look.”

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“I hate to take the responsibility for this,” Fernandez said. “I made it clear that I wasn’t interested in attacking Luis Valdez, and I never did. We were unhappy with how casting is done in the entertainment industry.

“I’m sorry he’s taking it so personally. But if anyone taught me to fight for what I believe in, it was Luis Valdez.”

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