Stageworks brings John Leguizamo’s ‘Latin History’ to life

Hillsborough Community College’s Dean of Student Services (Brandon campus) was bitten by the acting bug as a young student in his native New York. Néstor Meléndez has a Master’s in Educational Leadership and Administration, an advanced degree as an Education Specialist (Ed.S.) – and a powerful desire to be on the stage.

He’s performing at Stageworks Theatre Dec. 5-21 in Latin History For Morons, a one-man tour de force by actor, writer and comedian John Leguizamo.

The onstage character – his name just happens to be John – tells the audience just what’s wrong (plenty) and what’s right (not a whole lot) about the way Hispanic peoples are represented in American history books. He plays numerous characters and comically acts the stories out.

Born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents, Meléndez is a longtime fan of fellow New Yorker Leguizamo, whose heritage is Colombian.

“It was in college that I learned about being ‘the other,’” Meléndez reports. “Because when you grow up in New York City, everybody’s everywhere and they’re all around you. But it’s when you go to a place like a college that doesn’t have as many of ‘you’ present, you really start to see that you’re somebody else.

“So a lot of transformation happened for me when I was an undergrad, and I was blessed that I had theater as that background for my junior and senior year.”

Meléndez did some theater while he was in school (“My attempts to pursue that as a career did not pan out the way I had hoped”) and he got onstage, every once in a while, during his stint as an education specialist in his home state. He moved his family to Florida in 2022, and HCC hired him in early ‘23.

Theater was always there, in the back of his mind. “I believe in serendipity,” he says. “My life has had these incredible serendipitous moments. The job that I have, the professional identity, allows me to be in front of large groups of people almost all the time. So whether it’s working with my staff and doing workshops and panels with them, or we’re out somewhere doing presentations, I have been the guy in front of the room – with or without a microphone – for a long time.”

He joined the Board of Directors at Stageworks, and met (among others) director J.L. Rey, who oversees the company’s successful Hispanic Initiative, which includes producing at least one show per season that’s especially significant to the bay area’s Latin population.

Serendipity, Part Two: “A couple of weeks before I joined the board, (artistic director) Karla Hartley got the rights to Latin History for Morons. J.L. had been campaigning for that show, so they decided to do it under the banner of the Hispanic Initiative. I met J.L., and he said ‘You should audition.’”

Meléndez had seen Leguizamo perform Latin History live in person, so he was pumped. “If I didn’t get cast,” he says, “I could always join the crew, do makeup, set design, scene painting. In any of the ways in which a theater needs help, I was prepared. And I got lucky.”

After some initial concern over casting a member of the theater board, Rey and the others decided that since Néstor Meléndez was clearly right for the role, they should go full speed ahead.

“J.L. has been masterful as a director, helping me find some really organic moments,” reports the actor. “Because we recognized that there’s a lot of John Leguizamo, the man, who resonates with me as a man. He’s a Latin father; I’m a Latin father. He grew up in New York; I grew up in New York.

“We very much have that edgy New York bravado, with that strong Latin identity that shaped how we grew up in that city. So I’m reading the script, and there’d stuff in there that I would say in my everyday life.”

For showtimes and tickets, visit the Stageworks website.