“I Don’t Have to Show You No...

“I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges” has some funny moments. But if you walk away feeling only amused, said Leon Singer, you’ve missed the point.

Singer plays the father in the comedy-drama by Luis Valdez, now playing at the Lyceum Stage in Horton Plaza. He’s father to an angry young man who lets it be known that, sure, Chicanos act--but only as bandits, gardeners, cooks and villains.

Why can’t they ever be real people? Why can’t they ever be . . . important?

“It makes me sad,” said Singer, 53, who came to San Diego five years ago after a lifetime of acting in his native Mexico City. “It makes me as sad and as angry as any discrimination. It’s wrong.”

As father tells son in the play, Italians started out playing mob members. But as son tells father, the Italians now have “some big shots”--Al Pacino, Robert de Niro.

“We don’t have any big shots,” Singer said. “Can you see a Chicano playing the lead on ‘Dynasty’ or ‘The Colbys’? The truth is, many Chicanos speak English much better, say, than Ricardo Montalban, but you don’t see them playing ordinary or important people. For the most part, you see them playing types.”

Singer was a star in Mexico--on television, in the movies, in the theater. His credits include “Murder in the Cathedral” by T.S. Eliot and “Tales of the Sea” by Eugene O’Neill, both of which he performed in Spanish.

Most of Singer’s time in San Diego has been spent running restaurants. He owns El Tecolote, a popular Mexican eatery with locations on Friars Road near Fashion Valley and on Governors Road near La Jolla. He finds restaurants a demanding, all-consuming passion, not unlike the theater. He says he loves the business but hopes one day to retire and leave it to his son.

Singer’s hope for himself is to tackle American acting, in the theater and the movies. He makes no secret, however, of vastly preferring the stage. As he explains, he seems a natural for acting--a big man, warm and friendly, with deep, emphatic gestures and a husky, bellowing voice.

“The theater gives you a chance to communicate ideas and have people respond--immediately,” he said. “With movies and television, you don’t get the immediate response, so I don’t like them as much. When I do act in movies and TV, I find myself playing to the crew--the lighting guy, the grip, the cameraman--but not the camera.”

Singer says he has a problem with English. He feels he can not only control but also dominate his native tongue. With English, he feels lost, confused, tentative at best. His fears are at their most intense when he’s trying to memorize Shakespeare or any English that happens to be “veddy British.”

Several years ago, he tried to memorize the script of “The Elephant Man” to prepare for another Rep role. He gave up--he was that frustrated.

He took three days to memorize the part of Buddy Villa in “I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges,” and now his confidence is up.

He figures he can tackle almost anything. Like his contemporaries, all he wants is a chance.