Miguel Piñero
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Miguel Piñero (December 19, 1946–June 18, 1988) was a Puerto Rican playwright, actor, and co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
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[edit] Biography
Piñero was born in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, and when he was four, immigrated with his parents to New York. His father abandoned the family in 1954 and his mother moved into a basement and lived off of welfare. His first of what would be many criminal convictions was at the age of eleven, for theft. He was sent to the Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx. Piñero joined a street gang called "The Dragons" when he was 13 and when he was 14 he was hustling in the streets. Before Piñero had reached his 20 birthday, he was a drug addict with a long criminal record.
In 1972, when Piñero was 25 years old, he was incarcerated in Sing Sing prison for second-degree armed robbery. While serving time in prison, he wrote the play Short Eyes as part of the inmates playwriting workshop. The play is a drama based on his experiences in prison and portrays life, love and death among prison inmates. In 1974, the play was presented at Riverside Church in Manhattan. Theater impresario Joseph Papp saw the play and was so impressed that he moved the production to Broadway. The play was nominated for six Tony Awards. It won the New York Critics Circle Award and an Obie Award for the "best play of the year". The play was also a success in Europe. It catapulted Piñero to literary fame. Short Eyes was published in book form by the editorial house Hill & Wang.
Once out of prison, Piñero continued to write and he also landed some small film roles. In the 1970s, Piñero co-founded the Nuyorican ("New York-Puerto Rican") Poets Cafe with a group of artists, one of which, Miguel Algarín, would become one of his best friends. The Cafe is a place for performance of poetry about the experience of being a Puerto Rican in New York. In 1977, Piñero's play "Short Eyes" was turned into a film directed by Robert M. Young. In the film Piñero played the part of "Go-Go", a prisoner. Piñero was considered a talented writer who described the evils of society, even though he continued to be a drug addict.
Piñero wrote the Miami Vice TV episode "Smuggler's Blues" in 1984 and the screenplay for Short Eyes (the movie).
Miguel Piñero died on June 16, 1988 in New York City from cirrhosis. In a case of life imitating art, Piñero's ashes were scattered across the Lower East Side of Manhattan as he asked in the 1985 "Lower East Side Poem." This homage to his beloved neighborhood concluded:
"so please when I die ...
don't take me far away
keep me near by
take my ashes and scatter them thru out
the Lower East Side ..."
The life of Miguel Piñero was portrayed in the Hollywood production Piñero, directed by Leon Ichaso and starring Benjamin Bratt as Piñero.
[edit] Filmography
- D.C. Cops (TV) (1985)
- Alphabet City (1984)
- Miami Vice (TV) (1984)
- Deal of the Century (1983)
- Breathers (1983)
- Exposed (1983)
- See China and Die (TV) (1981)
- Fort Apache the Bronx (1981)
- Times Square (1980)
- Streets of L.A. (1979)
- The Jericho Mile (1979)
- Looking Up (1977)
- Short Eyes (1977)
[edit] Bibliography
- Short Eyes, 1975. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 080908659X and ISBN 0809012324 (paperback)
- La Bodega Sold Dreams, 1985. Houston: Arte Público Press. ISBN 0934770026
- The sun always shines for the cool; A midnight moon at the Greasy Spoon; Eulogy for a small time thief, 1984. Houston : Arte Público Press. ISBN 0934770255
- Outrageous: One Act Plays, 1986. Houston: Arte Público Press. ISBN 0934770689
- Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings, (co-editor, with Miguel Algarín)
[edit] Plays
- "Eulogy for a Small Time Thief"
- "Midnight Moon at the Greasy Spoon"
- "Straight from the Ghetto"
- "The Sun Always Shines for the Cool"
