In spite of significant limitations, it would be churlish not to acknowledge the ambitious aims and wide-ranging scope of “Latin History For Morons”, a solo show written and performed by John Leguizamo at Broadway’s Studio 54. Inspired in part by contemporary historian Howard Zinn’s landmark 1980 book “A People’s History of the United States” – Leguizamo makes several direct references to it in the show – “Latin History” narrows the lens to chronicle the Latin experience in America.
As Zinn points out, more clearly than the play’s script, “history is the propaganda of the victors.” He makes the case that excluding or misrepresenting the contributions of a specific ethnic group can have a negative impact on one’s identity. Leguizamo plays on that theme, showing stereotypes of Latino people and attempting to offer counterexamples as he retells the origin narrative of Latinos in the Americas.
