John Leguizamo's parents knew the 'American dream hustle.' That informed his new play

Actor and playwright John Leguizamo has built a career out of transforming himself into characters modeled after Latino Americans he's known: a slick playboy, a nerdy hip hop dancer, a trans prostitute, his own mother and father, his deaf gay uncle, his kids and energetic younger self.

His new play, The Other Americans, is now premiering at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. For three decades, Leguizamo has been drawing attention to the Latino experience in the U.S., starting with 1991’s Mambo Mouth, which The New York Times called a “brutally funny one-man show.” In 2018, he won a special Tony Award for his one-man show, Latin History for Morons.

On a recent morning at Arena Stage, Leguizamo spoke with NPR about why Latino representation on stage is so important.

The highlights below are excerpted from a longer conversation and edited for clarity.

Interview highlights

In The Other Americans, Leguizamo plays Nelson Castro, a patriarch whose dreams of expanding his laundromat business seem out of reach, no matter how hard he hustles.

“I know a lot of Nelson Castros. I feel like Latin people are so entrepreneurial. You know, we're the first responders, we’re the essential laborers in America. And we have been for centuries. You know, we hustle, we work, we grind, and we get to a certain level and the rest is impossible. Bank loans don’t come, venture capitalists don’t come, and [Nelson] just hustles himself into the ground.”

Nelson and his wife Patti are at loose ends after their son experiences a hate crime and spends several months in rehab. One of the primary themes of The Other Americans is generational and cultural attitudes about mental health.

“In Latin families, in general, therapy is not our first go to. If you go to therapy, there's something really wrong with you. 'You don't have to pay somebody. They're quacks.'

"I say to Latin people, ‘We’re the ethnic group that needs the most therapy because of all the s*** we deal with in this country. The beatings, the abuses … We're the ones that need the most therapy to function.’”

Leguizamo says he has empathy for both the father and son in The Other Americans. Like the patriarch he plays, he says his parents were always trying to better their station in life.

“My parents were always on that same kind of American dream hustle. We moved every year to a better situation. Sometimes these better situations brought me a lot of issues when I was in the neighborhood. I got beat up a lot because it was white flight, but before they left, they all decided to beat me up. I learned how to use my mouth to defend myself because I wasn't as good a fighter.”

Leguizamo is frustrated that Latinos are still underrepresented in theater even though the U.S. population is almost 20% Latino, according to the U.S. Census

“The beauty of theater and plays is that, for generations [they’ve] given white people, especially the average Joe and Jane, a sense that their lives have value and meaning. I feel like a play like [The Other Americans] gives the everyman and everywoman, Latina, Latino, a sense that their life has value, has meaning.”

With just about everything he does, Leguizamo says the goal is to elevate Latino American stories with characters and plots that are culturally specific.

“I've always believed that the more specific, the more detailed and grippingly real, the more universal it becomes. Because, I mean, aside from my skin color and ethnicity, we're all the same. No matter how they try to separate us and divide us, we're the same. Like, Shakespeare said, ‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’ ‘If you take a listen, do we not laugh?’ Well, he didn't say it, but something like that.”

The Other Americans is the first play Leguizamo has written with a full cast.

"One man shows, nobody understands how difficult it is to write and to put up because you're by yourself. So you have to represent the whole world by yourself. So the language, the storytelling, has to create that illusion that you are the center of the universe. Here, it's a family. I just have to dig into the reality and give every character a separate voice. And it's much easier and much lovelier and less lonely."

The Other Americans is at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., through Nov. 24, 2024.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for air and web. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio.