John Leguizamo's 'the Other Americans': A Family Grapples With A 'rigged' System

Leguizamo came to prominence successful 1991 pinch his one-man show “Mambo Mouth.” He has starred successful movies ranging from “Carlito’s Way” to “Moulin Rouge!” to nan “Ice Age” franchise. He won an Emmy Award successful 1999 for his solo show “Freak,” and a typical Tony Award successful 2018 for “Latin History for Morons.”

More recently, he has produced and hosted nan MSNBC documentary bid “Leguizamo Does America,” where he highlights U.S. cities’ Latino civilization and roots, and PBS’ “American Historia,” where Leguizamo traces nan history of Latinos, from civilizations thousands of years backmost to modern America.

While Leguizamo is renowned for his solo shows, he said it is “so great” and a “relief” to beryllium onstage pinch a afloat cast.

“People don’t understand really difficult a one-man show is,” Leguizamo said, explaining that aft nan first excitement wears off, performing unsocial tin go grueling. “But now, to beryllium pinch each astonishing formed ... it’s unthinkable to beryllium sharing nan shape pinch truthful overmuch talent.”

Latino stories person recovered occurrence connected Broadway, successful musicals for illustration “The Buena Vista Social Club,” “On Your Feet!” and “In nan Heights.” But location person been acold less plays examining nan U.S. Latino acquisition that person reached a wide audience, Nilo Cruz’s “Anna successful nan Tropics” being a notable exception.

Arredondo, who plays Norma successful “The Other Americans,” said nan play’s title refers to nan duality that informs nan lives of Latinos. “We unrecorded successful a world wherever group ever say, ‘Where are you from?’ or, ‘What nationality are you?’ If you show group that you are American, they still ask, but, ‘Where are you really from?’”

To her, nan title plays connected nan reality that moreover U.S.-born Latinos are often still seen arsenic portion of a abstracted group.

But Arredondo describes nan play arsenic “a fundamentally American story.”

“I emotion this play because it tin hap successful immoderate background. It could beryllium an Irish family, it could beryllium an Italian family,” she said. “It could beryllium a family successful nan Midwest. It truthful happens to beryllium taking spot successful a Latino family successful Queens, but it could beryllium anyone’s story.”

She said it’s uncommon to spot Latinos depicted successful films aliases connected TV shows that do not halfway connected a character’s “Latin-ness,” aliases connected an migration storyline.

In contrast, Arredondo said, “this play is astir a family, really nan family gets along. It’s astir family love, it’s astir family support, it’s astir family loss.”