On September 28, Tony-nominated actor John Leguizamo (Freak) spoke on public access television about his frustration with the slow response of aiding victims in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory.
Leguizamo also discussed his upcoming Broadway show Latin History for Morons, which opens at Studio 54 November 15. The show began in an acclaimed run Off-Broadway at The Public Theater.
“I feel like Latin contributions have either been erased or just absent,” said Leguizamo.
“[The play] started with my son was getting bullied in school, racially,” explained Leguizamo. “I’m going, ‘Wait a minute, I worked really hard to be respectable. How is it that my son is going through the same racial right of passage I had to go through?’
“So I started doing research because I wanted to empower my son to have the words and the facts to defend himself verbally.
“I started to feel like I’m the one who’s being empowered, I’m the one whose self-worth is being healed, and that became the genesis for the play,” he said. Leguizamo found out that 10,000 Latin soldiers fought in the American Revolution, and more facts about his heritage, and wanted to use the theatre to educate and entertain.
Watch the full interview here.
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