John Leguizamo's LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS Becomes Highest Solo Grossing Play in Ahmanson Theatre History

The WOW Agency and Center Theatre Group today announced that Tony Award winner John Leguizamo's one-man play LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS is the highest grossing solo play in Ahmanson Theatre history. Presented by Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre, the 40 performance engagement from September 5 - October 20 in Los Angeles grossed nearly $3.7 million in sales and was seen by over 55,000 patrons.

The record-breaking engagement also included a special student performance and post-show talkback of LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS on October 17, part of Center Theatre Group's 2019-2020 Student Matinee Program. It was attended by more than 1,600 students and educators from 33 schools and community organizations serving youth from the greater Los Angeles area. Prior to seeing the show, teachers participated in an educator conference to explore the play in-depth and had the option of bringing Center Theatre Group teaching artists into their classroom to lead show-based activities.

The critically acclaimed production launched its North American tour at the world famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York this past summer, and then traveled to 15 cities across North America including stops in Dallas, Durham, Hartford, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Antonio and Seattle among others. The tour continues through December and will play engagements in Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Nashville, Oakland, Sarasota, San Diego, Sugar Land, Tampa, Tempe and Washington, DC, with return engagements in Miami and San Antonio.

For more information on all tour stops, please visit LatinHistoryOnTour.com.

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS is inspired by the near total absence of Latinos from his son's American History books. John Leguizamo embarks on an outrageously funny, frenzied search to find a Latin hero for his son's school history 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 Pitbull into 110 irreverent and uncensored minutes above and beyond his unique style.

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS concluded its successful run on Broadway on February 25, 2018. The original 16-week engagement was extended an additional three weeks on opening night, November 15, 2017. The production was the first play of the 2017-2018 season to recoup its entire capitalization.

LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS marks theatre's most prolific modern Latino playwright, John Leguizamo's sixth one-man venture onto the stage, following success on Broadway with Ghetto Klown (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award), Freak (Drama Desk Award), Sexaholix...A Love Story (Tony nomination) and Off-Broadway with Mambo Mouth (Obie Award) and Spic-O-Rama (Drama Desk Award). Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, Freak and Ghetto Klown all went on to be filmed for presentation on HBO. Most recently, he co-wrote the new musical Kiss My Aztec with Tony Taccone.

Fresh off the celebrated and financially successful Broadway run of Ghetto Klown, Leguizamo began his acclaimed work on LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS. The play had its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre followed by its New York premiere at The Public Theater. Directed by Tony Taccone (Kiss My Aztec, Wishful Drinking, Bridge & Tunnel), the Tony-nominated production of LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS is written and performed by Leguizamo, featuring scenic design by Rachel Hauck, lighting design by Alexander V. Nichols, and original music and sound design by Bray Poor.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

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