Photos: YouTube Screenshots
September 4, 2025 – The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) begins previews for the New York premiere of THE OTHER AMERICANS, a gripping new play the American Dream colliding with Latino reality written by Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo and directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, September 11. Following the play’s Fall 2024 world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., THE OTHER AMERICANS officially opens in The Public’s Anspacher Theater on Thursday, September 25. Originally scheduled to close on Sunday, October 12, the production has now extended through Sunday, October 19.
Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo is Nelson Castro, a Colombian-American laundromat owner in Queens grappling with a failing business and buried secrets in his new play THE OTHER AMERICANS. When his son Nick returns from a mental wellness facility after a traumatic incident, Nelson’s world unravels. Committed to protecting his family and business, he tackles racial and identity challenges to achieve his dream, proving his success. Nelson must navigate morality’s murky waters to salvage his future. Will he emerge victorious, or will his past consume everything he holds dear? Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs this gripping tale of resilience.
The complete cast of THE OTHER AMERICANS includes Rosa Evangelina Arredondo (Norma), Kimberli Flores (Understudy), Sarah Nina Hayon (Veronica), Jaime José Hernández (Understudy), Rebecca Jimenez (Toni), John Leguizamo (Nelson), Trey Santiago-Hudson (Nick), Bradley James Tejeda (Eddie), Luna Lauren Velez (Patti), and Juan Francisco Villa (Understudy).
THE OTHER AMERICANS features scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Kara Harmon, lighting design by Jen Schriever, sound design by Justin Ellington, hair and wig design by Anika Seitu, prop management by Natalie Carney, fight direction by Thomas Schall, intimacy coordination by Ann C. James, choreography by Lorna Ventura, dramaturgy by Jack Phillips Moore, and casting by Caparelliotis Casting (David Caparelliotis CSA/Joe Gery). James Latus serves as production stage manager and Ana Muñoz as stage manager.
THE OTHER AMERICANS marks Leguizamo’s return to The Public Theater following Latin History for Morons, his Tony and Lortel Award-nominated hit solo show that premiered at The Public in 2017, moved to Broadway, and was filmed for Netflix. Leguizamo previously appeared at The Public early in his career, performing in La Puta Vida Trilogy and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both in 1987. Santiago-Hudson has worked as an actor, playwright, and director at The Public and Delacorte Theater for more than 30 years. Santiago-Hudson’s autobiographical play Lackawanna Blues, which he wrote and performed, premiered at The Public, for which he received an Obie Award.
The Public’s 2025-26 Season continues with the Tony Award-nominated writer and director duo Jordan E. Cooper and Stevie Walker-Webb‘s return to The Public with OH HAPPY DAY!, featuring original music by Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Donald Lawrence for this biting new play about confronting the divine. The Public’s collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater Company continues with the first of two plays in this season’s residency, DID YOU EAT? (밥 먹었니?), featuring playwright and performer Zoë Kim’s autobiographical journey through love’s many forms, directed by Chris Yejin. THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS, Obie Award winner Ethan Lipton’s irreverently funny musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth, makes its world premiere in a production directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman. The fall season closes out with INITIATIVE, a world premiere play by Emerging Writers Group alumnus Else Went and directed by Emma Rosa Went, following the intertwined lives of seven teens from 2000-2004 in “Coastal Podunk, California.”
The Library serves food and drink beginning at 6:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library is closed on Mondays and Sundays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.
BIOS:
JOHN LEGUIZAMO (Playwright, Nelson). Award-winning actor, writer, and producer John Leguizamo has established a prolific career that defies categorization and spans film, television, theater, and literature. Leguizamo serves as the host and executive producer of MSNBC’s hit travel show “Leguizamo Does America,” and stars in the Apple TV+ series “Smoke.” He will also appear in the upcoming Christopher Nolan film The Odyssey. He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as a sensitive drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and has more than 100 other film credits including Carlito’s Way, Moulin Rouge!, and Encanto. Acclaimed for his one man shows such as Ghetto Klown, he garnered a Tony Award for his 2022 performance in Latin History for Morons. Leguizamo’s Broadway debut was his one-man show, Freak, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. Leguizamo’s play, Spic-O-Rama, received an Obie Award and an Outer Critics Award for Best Play of 1993.
RUBEN SANTIAGO-HUDSON (Director). Directing credits include Jitney (Tony, Outer Critics, Drama Desk), Kunene and the King, Skeleton Crew (Obie, AUDELCO), Lackawanna Blues (Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Obie, Helen Hayes), Othello, The Piano Lesson (Obie, Lucille Lortel, Callaway, AUDELCO), The Happiest Song Plays Last, My Children My Africa, The First Breeze of Summer, Seven Guitars, Your Blues Ain’t Sweet Like Mine, Two Trains Running, Gem of the Ocean. Acting credits include Seven Guitars (Tony Award), Stick Fly, Gem of the Ocean, Jelly’s Last Jam, How I Learned What I Learned, Lackawanna Blues, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Henry VIII, and Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.
ARENA STAGE: The first racially integrated theater in our nation’s capital and a pioneer of the regional theater movement, Arena Stage was founded in 1950 in Washington, DC. Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. We produce plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep, and dangerous in the American spirit, and present diverse and groundbreaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Consistently contributing to the American theatrical lexicon by commissioning and developing new plays, Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement and serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org
THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musicals Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 64 Tony Awards, 195 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 64 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 70 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first inhabitants and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.
THE OTHER AMERICANS begins performances in The Public’s Anspacher Theater with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, September 11. The production officially opens in The Public’s Anspacher Theater on Thursday, September 25. Originally scheduled to close on Sunday, October 12, THE OTHER AMERICANS has now extended through Sunday, October 19.
Tickets are available now and can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Thursday, September 11 through TodayTix. The Lottery is now open for entries, and will close at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10. Winners will be notified by email and push notification anytime from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and if selected, winners will have one hour to claim their tickets.
The performance schedule is Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (There will be no 1:30 p.m. performance on Saturday, September 13 or Sunday, September 14.)
The performance on Sunday, September 28 at 1:30 p.m. will require patrons to wear masks. The Audio Described performance will be on Saturday, October 4 at 1:30 p.m. The American Sign Language Interpreted performance will be on Friday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. The Open Captioned performance will be on Sunday, October 11 at 1:30 p.m.
There will be a Community Performance on Tuesday, September 30 at 7:30 p.m. A post-show conversation and reception will follow the performance. For more information, email [email protected].
The full performance calendar can be found at publictheater.org.
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