1492 and all that.(play by Dario Fo)(Brief Article)

American Theatre, October, 2001 by Jenkins, Ron

JOHAN PADAN AND THE DISCOVERY of the Americas is a subversive one-man comedy about a stowaway on Columbus's voyage who jumps ship to help the Indians fight against the conquistadors, using mockery and laughter as weapons against cruelty and injustice. Written by Dario Fo, the first physical comedian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, the piece received its American premiere last month at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass., before moving to New York's Provincetown Playhouse for a run that closes on Oct. 7.

Fo adapted his play primarily from the 16th-century diaries of Cabeza da Vaca and other explorers, but its sly satirical examination of racism, religious warfare, ethnic cleansing and the mass migration of homeless refugees resonates...

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