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LATIN HISTORY is for morons & not for dummies - LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS Written and performed by John Leguizamo On Broadway at Studio 54 254 West 54 Street (between Broadway & 8th Avenue) New York NY 10019 For tickets, visit Telecharge. By Randy Gener NEW YORK CITY | In the Broadway solo play, LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS, the popular film actor John Leguizamo schools audiences on the need and the search for notable Latinos overlooked in American history. Inspired by the near-total absence of Latinos in his son’s American history class, Leguizamo frenziedly scours around for the right U.S. Latin hero for his son’s school project. From a mad recap of the Aztec empire to stories of unknown Latin patriots of the Revolutionary War and beyond, Leguizamo breaks down the 3,000 years between the Mayans and Ricky Ricardo into 95 irreverent and uncensored minutes in his trademark style. The Tony nominee’s new solo comedy has been extended by three weeks, through February 25, 2018. The show was originally slated for an engagement through February 4 at Studio 54. It began previews on October 19 and officially opened on November 15. Tony Taccone, the stage director who put Leguizamo to his acting paces (and phases), remembers that the two men used to call the show “Latin History for Dummies.” Problem was that the people who owned the patent on those “…for Dummies” books threatened to sue them if they had not chanted the title. “John was in a workshop at my theater in Berkeley, California, just working on some new material and he came on this idea of doing a lecture about Latin history,” Taccone says. “He’d gotten really turned on by this personal quest of his to rediscover his own Latin history roots. It turned into kind of a lecture, and he started to perform it at some comedy club-type …
How to dare to rewrite a magic realist novel into a brand new play - By Randy Gener NEW YORK CITY | Did you know? The first staged reading of Pulitzer Prize–winner Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first successful Broadway musical was at the Repertorio Español in New York. And did you know? Spanish-speaking New Yorkers can actually see and hear Spanish–speaking plays — without the onus of being identifies with any specific Latin-American community. Where? Where else? At Repertorio Español. What’s important for this New York troupe is the mark that it serves all of New York’s Spanish-speaking groups. Not just Puerto Ricans or only Dominicans or Chicanos. Take the plays currently running there. At the company’s space — located at 138 East 27th Street in Manhattan between Lexington and Third Avenues — you will be able to see Gabriel Garcia Marquez‘s CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, Isabel Allende’s THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS and Julia Álvarez‘s IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES. If you go, you will be handed programs that read EL CORONEL NO TIENE QUIEN LE ESCRIBA, LA CASA DE LOS ESPIRITUS and EN EL TIEMPO DE LAS MARIPOSAS. According to Robert Weber Federico, the company’s leader, serving audiences of many nationalities and interests marks its mission and unique repertory method of producing. Once a common practice, particularly in Europe, it has become extremely rare for companies to keep several plays in rotation at the same time. This season, in fact, a second Julia Álvarez novel has been adapted into EN EL NOMBRE DE SALOME (IN THE NAME OF SALOME). [I]n terms of authorship, the most unique aspect involve IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES and l, THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS. What’s curious is that these New York productions are directly credited to playwright Caridad Svich and not these novels’ original authors. Yes, they are based on the books, but the play texts themselves do not even say …
Idina Menzel’s Return - The Woman Who Works Her Long Flowing Hair is staging a comeback.
Idina Menzel’s Return - The Woman Who Works Her Long Flowing Hair is staging a comeback.
Janeane Garofalo and Lili Taylor Join Broadway’s MARVIN’S ROOM revival - More popular film stars will cross the footlights to join an anticipated Broadway revival
Is Arthur Millers aging THE PRICE still worth re-staging today? - That's the question faced by Roundabout Theatre Company, which is presently running a new Broadway production starring Mark Ruffalo and Danny DeVito.
Take John Leguizamo’s LATIN HISTORY class @ Public Theater - Leguizamo breaks down 3,000 years into 95 irreverent and uncensored minutes in his trademark comedic style.
A RARE GEM | Christian Campbell grapples with a “New Morality” - Christian Campbell is a superb actor and a gorgeous spirit.
American Theater Magazine -
IS THE PAST A NEW PRESENT? | Caryl Churchill’s Britain on the verge of Thatcherism - There are many remarkable and surprising things in Caryl Churchill’s landmark play.
QUICK HIT | Holland Taylor Cuts “Ripcord” in Manhattan - Taylor replaces the previously announced Mary Louise Wilson who was forced to withdraw from the production due to the extension of her book tour for her new memoir.
SHANLEY STRUCK | In “Prodigal Son,” John Patrick Shanley shoots for the Auteur moon - "Doubt," directed by Shanley, was nominated for five Academy Awards. For his script of "Moonstruck," he received both the Writers Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Currently in production | Play excerpt, models, design sketches for Pacific Beat Collective’s “Tala” at HERE Arts Center, July 28 to 31 - "Tala" will perform in a workshop production July 28th to 31st at HERE Arts Center in downtown SoHo in New York City. The play, a work-in-progress, is a critique on the nature of political revolutions. Click here to read a play excerpt and see the work of the designers and actors as they prepare for the production.
Play excerpt | Saviana Stanescu’s “4 Alice,” part 2 of “The Window” at Romanian Cultural Institute in New York - And you thought these actors were just making things up as they went along. Didn't you? Admit it. You did. This is an exclusive excerpt from Saviana Stanescu's play "4 Alice" for THE WINDOW installation/performance project