It was Parents’ Day and you had your parents for the weekend. They stood in your room staring at your roommate’s beer posters as you tried to decide what to do with them next.

You needed to take them to a clean, decent event. A ha! The Chinese Magic Revue and Acrobats show at the Egyptian Theatre! That’s safe. Unfortunately, you soon learned it was cancelled. You hid in the bathroom as your mother wondered aloud if there was a mall in DeKalb.

The show was cancelled because the Chinese Magic Revue and Acrobats’ truck broke down the night before in New Albany, Ind. The troupe made it to DeKalb but all its equipment was stuck in Indiana. No show.

Do not fear if you bought tickets. You do not have to keep them as souvenirs of that fateful weekend. You can get a refund if you make a request by Jan. 12, 1990.

Steve Duchrow, programming and activities adviser, said NIU sold about 2,700 tickets for the two shows. The programming and activities office is “still coming up with expenses and see what our legal options are,” he said.

Event cancellations are rare at NIU, but occur “once in a while”, Duchrow said. The last cancellation NIU’s Fine Arts Series had was Melba Moore in 1984, he said.

Cancellations “are a part of the business,” Duchrow said. “You just have to cope with it,” he said. However, ticket buyers are entitled to a full refund because they paid for a service that was not provided, he said.

“We had to move quick,” to establish a refund policy after the cancellation, Duchrow said. The policy was determined the day after the event, in anticipation of refund inquiries Monday.

Those who bought tickets by order form or at the Carl Sandburg Auditorium box office in the Holmes Student Center can receive refunds by check. They should send or bring their tickets to the programming and activities office in HSC. It might take up to six weeks to get the check.

For series subscribers, the refund amount depends on subscriber category and, except for NIU students, whether the subscription was bought before of after July 1. NIU student subscribers can receive $2.50 per ticket.

Senior citizens and students from other schools can get $3.75. NIU faculty and staff are eligible for a refund of $5. All other subscribers can receive $6.25. Those who subscribed after July 1 will receive an additional 50 cents per ticket.

Series subscribers can receive refunds at the Nov. 17 performance of “Madame Butterfly.” Refunds will be available at the Egyptian Theatre for two hours before the show and after the show. Subscribers who cannot attend “Madame Butterfly” should call the theater for more information.

Subscribers also may donate their tickets to the Fine Arts Series by writing “donation” on the ticket backs and returning them to the programming and activities office before Nov. 17.