Actor Leguizamo holds class on ‘Latin History’
John Leguizamo started to take notice of the narrative holes in history textbooks when he was attending New York University. At the time, he was a theater student born in Colombia and raised in Queens.
“I felt invisible or absent from what we were studying,” he says. “And the more I learned, the more I was galvanized to learn more. I thought, ‘Wait, why aren’t we mentioned in history textbooks?’ ”
That realization was likely the very beginning of “Latin History for Morons,” Leguizamo’s attempt to offer a 90-minute, intensely
compressed history of the Americas that hadn’t even been marginalized, because to have been marginalized would have meant it could be found in the margins.
The writer, actor, director and comedian rattles off names and numbers with dance-step speed:
the number of Latin soldiers who served and assisted during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and two world wars.
“We’ve fought in every single war America has had,” he says. “We, too, are sons and daughters of the Revolution. Unsung and unrecognized heroes did incredible things.”
Occasionally, the numbers don’t play out perfectly: Leguizamo suggests there were 10,000 Latin patriots in the Revolutionary War out of 80,000 soldiers — 1 in 8 — but the latter figure was likely low. But his point holds up regardless: Soldiers, weapons and money flowed into the revolution from Spain and Cuba that affected the outcome of the war.
In his show, Leguizamo charts a history with a starting point thousands of years before 1776, when the concept of “America” was seized and redefined. I bring up an issue I have with immigration paperwork when traveling. For country of nationality, “United States of America” feels like a lot of scribbling; “USA” sounds like a chant; and “America” is inaccurate.
“I have the same issue,” he says. “There’s a lot of America that isn’t the United States of America.”
Leguizamo in the show runs through ancient civilizations in the Americas, the arrival of the conquistadors and to more recent history. The show finds him clad professorially in a tweed jacket and waistcoat, with a chalkboard and chalk.
Those familiar with Leguizamo’s work will recognize the frenetic quality he’s exhibited for years. Now 55, he says, “It’s absolutely emotionally and physically draining. I leave it all on stage. But I feel empowered by it at the same time. I’m exhausted at the show, but I keep getting stronger and better.”
And while the energy may feel familiar, Leguizamo is at a different point in his life than the ’90s, when he started doing one-man shows in New York. His two kids are grown. His son’s school project for history class becomes a driving force for “Latin History for Morons.” Their work to find a proper Latin hero for the project unites the teenage Leguizamo, flustered by his college history classes, with an older, wiser man who has committed more than 30 years of research to the subject: He’s earned his tweed blazer.
When I suggest the show is a mix of Buster Keaton’s physical comedy and Bill Nye’s explanatory method, Leguizamo warms to the reference points and then pauses for an edit, referencing Cantinflas — an actor, comedian and film director from Mexico who began working in film in the 1930s.
“There’s this long, wonderful tradition of Latin comedy,” Leguizamo says. “A lot of it was very physical, but it was also social and at times political. Cantinflas
did some heavy political work in the ’40s and ’50s. I like to think I come out of that heritage.”
Leguizamo debuted the show in 2017 at the Public Theater in New York. He’s busied himself with other film and TV work since, and also is working on a comic book about a Latin superhero (supportphenomx.com). But he keeps returning to “Latin History for Morons,” refining the show as commentary about immigrants and immigration remain a headline subject.
“I feel like the show has gotten more pointed but also more poetic and funnier,” he says. “It’s a tighter show, with more bite. Anybody who’s seen me will find that I’m as outraged, ridiculous and raunchy as I’ve been my entire life.”
But there’s also some sense of proud father that has emerged with the show. He talks about sit-ins at high schools in New York and Chicago, with kids demanding more Latin and black history.
“It’s just about representation,” he says. “It’s not what the white nationalists tell you about replacement. Nobody’s replaceable. People aren’t replaceable. There are just people here to contribute what they can contribute. And it’s been that way a long time.”
“It’s absolutely emotionally and physically draining. I leave it all on stage. But I feel empowered by it at the same time.”
John Leguizamo, about his “Latin History for Morons” show