www.stageworkstheatre.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nWritten and originally performed by award-winning actor John Leguizamo, \u201cLatin History for Morons\u201d follows a father determined to fill the gaps left in his son\u2019s school history books. His search launches an energetic, funny and poignant journey through more than 3,000 years of Latin American history \u2014 from the civilizations of the ancient Americas to contemporary figures whose contributions often go unrecognized. Leguizamo\u2019s original Broadway performance earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Play in 2018.<\/p>\n
The production is part of Stageworks\u2019 ongoing Hispanic Initiative aimed at highlighting the contributions of Hispanic authors and playwrights.<\/p>\n
Mel\u00e9ndez, who serves on Stageworks\u2019 board of directors, and as dean of student services at Hillsborough Community College, brings considerable stage experience to this fast-paced one-man show. A dedicated advocate for cultural representation and education, he is a member and ambassador of the Tampa Bay Latin Chamber of Commerce. His personal commitment to empowering Latin students and families mirrors the themes at the heart of the production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis play is a reminder that history is not just what gets printed in textbooks,\u201d Mel\u00e9ndez said. \u201cHistory lives in families, communities and identities, and often the most powerful stories are the ones we were never taught.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLatin History for Morons\u201d combines humor, candid storytelling and sharp social commentary to challenge the erasure of Latin people from mainstream narratives while celebrating their lasting impact on world history. Audiences can expect a fast-paced evening that is both thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny.<\/p>\n
Director JL Rey leads the creative team alongside Frank Ch\u00e1vez, set designer; Andr\u00e9s Mota, costume designer; Celeste Mannerud, lighting designer; and Karla Hartley, sound designer. The production team is led by Heather Krueger, production stage manager; James Putnam, production carpenter; and Leiann Klien, scenic artist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Stageworks Theatre will present the acclaimed one-man play \u201cLatin History for Morons,\u201d featuring Tampa actor and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[39106,40054,40055,40056,135,137,136,13226],"class_list":{"0":"post-68771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-john-leguizamo","9":"tag-latin-history-for-morons","10":"tag-nestor-melendez","11":"tag-stagewords-theatre","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-headlines","14":"tag-tampa-news","15":"tag-theatre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}