John Leguizamo is known for his culture-skewering one-man plays, with satirical sendups like “Latin History for Morons” and “Mambo Mouth.”
But when he set out to find a “culturally exciting” show he could see with some Latin friends about five years ago, he said, he came up empty-handed.
“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’” said Mr. Leguizamo, 65, an actor and playwright who grew up in Queens and has lived in Lower Manhattan since 1986. “We’re equal to white people in New York City in terms of population — probably more — and there’s nothing for us.”
So he decided to write the show he wanted to see. The result was “The Other Americans,” about a Latino family that has moved from Jackson Heights, where Mr. Leguizamo grew up, to Forest Hills and is dealing with the aftermath of a hate crime. He stars as Nelson Castro, a Colombian American laundromat owner. The show is in performances at the Public Theater in downtown Manhattan through Oct. 26.
“I find theater is where you can take the risks, where people want you to take the risks, where you can push the envelope on storytelling, on structure, on themes,” said Mr. Leguizamo, who received a special Tony Award in 2018 for “Latin History for Morons.”
He rides his bike about six blocks to the theater from the 4,500-square-foot Greenwich Village brownstone that he bought for $6 million in 2008 with his wife of 22 years, Justine Maurer, 57. They spent $2 million and about a year restoring it to its original 19th-century grandeur. They also have a Bengal cat named Leonard Bernstein.
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The post How John Leguizamo Spends a Day Before Taking the Stage appeared first on New York Times.
