MIGUEL PINERO Autographed Signed SHORT EYES 1974 Playbill Gay NUYORICAN POET

Description

VERY SCARCE Signature inscription by the legendary playwright that appears to say: 'To Diane------  I Am Better Looking  Happiness Miguel G Pinero'
On cover of Vivian Beaumont Theater Playbill for his most famous work.
Miguel Piñero
(December 19, 1946 – June 16, 1988) was a
playwright
, actor and co-founder of the
Nuyorican Poets Café
. He was a leading member of the
Nuyorican literary movement
.
In 1972, when Piñero was 25 years old, he was incarcerated in
Sing Sing prison
for second-degree armed robbery. His first literary work was
Black Woman with a Blonde Wig On
.
Marvin Felix Camillo
, the director of The Family, an acting troupe made up of ex-cons, submitted the poem to a contest, which it won. The warden of Sing Sing then became concerned that "contraband" was being taken from the prison and nearly put Camillo in jail after seeing an article in the newspaper. While serving time in prison, he wrote the play
Short Eyes
as part of the inmates' playwriting workshop.
Mel Gussow
came to see it, and due to his review in the
New York Times
, the director of the Theater at Riverside Church wanted Piñero to present it there.
When he left Sing Sing due to parole in 1973, he was able to present
Short Eyes
with The Family. The title comes from "short heist," the
prison slang
term for
child molestation
. Puerto Ricans could not pronounce the 'h' so it became "short eyes." The play is a
drama
based on his experiences in prison and portrays how a house of detention populated primarily by black and Latino inmates is effected by the incarceration there of a white
pedophile
, considered the lowest form of prison life. 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
. It went from Riverside Church, then to
The Public Theater
, eventually to
Vivian Beaumont Theater
. The play was nominated for six
Tony Awards
. It won the
New York Drama Critics Circle Award
and an
Obie Award
for the "best play of the year". The play was also a success in Europe. The play catapulted Piñero to
literary
fame.
Short Eyes
was published in book form by the editorial house Hill & Wang. It became the first play written by a Puerto Rican to be put on Broadway.