Luis Rafael Sanchez
Encyclopedia
Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez a.k.a. "Wico" (born 1936) is a Puerto Rican
playwright
. Possibly his best known play is La Pasión según Antigona Pérez (The Passion of Antigona Perez), a tragedy
based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga
, which is located in the southeastern part of Puerto Rico
. There he received his primary education. His family moved to San Juan
where Sánchez continued to receive his secondary and higher education. He enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico
in 1955 after graduating from high school, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. It was during his days as a student at the university that he became interested in acting.
Sánchez's interest in literature
led him to enroll at the City University of New York
where in 1959 he earned his Master's Degree in dramatic arts. He eventually went to Madrid, Spain and earned his Doctorate in Literature in 1976 from the Complutense University of Madrid
.
set in present day Latin America, suggested by Sophocles' "Antigone". The character of "Antigona" was based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga
(1926–1995). Her life was rooted in politics
and her 3 children. She was a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
and an accomplished speaker who spent time in jail for her political beliefs yet, she saw herself as a simple woman with simple needs. But she was not a simple woman with simple needs, she was a very complex woman with many facets of her personality. The world premiere production took place in 1968 at Old San Juan's Tapia Theater, starring Myrna Vazquez as "Antigona", during the 11th Annual Puerto Rican Theater Festival.
A highly acclaimed all-star revival opened in 1991 at San Juan's Performing Arts Center featuring Alba Nydia Diaz
as "Antigona", Walter Rodriguez as "Creon", Samuel Molina as "Monsignor Escudero", Marian Pabon as "Pilar Vargas", Noelia Crespo as "Aurora", and Julia Thompson as "Irene". The production which integrated video and broadcast technology was directed by Idalia Perez Garay for Teatro del Sesenta Theater Company. It featured original music by Pedro Rivera Toledo, sets by Checo Cuevas, and film sequences supervised by well-known Puerto Rican filmmaker Luis Molina Casanova. A new production opened at San Juan's Performing Arts Center on April 8, 2011, featuring Yamaris Latorre as "Antigona", directed by Gilberto Valenzuela for Tablado Puertorriqueño Theater Company.
, a Latin rhythm, is was a band, inviting readers to imagine (or learn) what this beat sounds like. It has been suggested that the song itself is the real protagonist of the tale. The Americanization
of Puerto Rico is explored in this work, as well as the topic of Puerto Rican politics and the political situation of the island as a colony. One aspect of this examination can be seen as a critique of Puerto Ricans who give up their culture to assimilate into the American culture as compared to Puerto Ricans who refuses to let go of their cultural identity. The book was translated into English
by Gregory Rabassa
.
In the essay "La guagua aérea" or "The Flying Bus", Sánchez explores the concept of a bi-polar culture, the question of assimilation
and opposition to U.S.
Anglo culture. Sánchez also wrote En cuerpo de camisa (In Shirt Sleeves, 1966), which is a collection of short stories.
Luis Rafael Sánchez is now a professor emeritus at the University of Puerto Rico
and the City University of New York. He also travels to Europe
and Latin America
where he has been involved in the teachings and works of theater.
Colón Zayas and Waldman focus on theater, while Perivolaris, Dalleo, Barradas, and Figueroa analyze the narrative production of the author.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. Possibly his best known play is La Pasión según Antigona Pérez (The Passion of Antigona Perez), a tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga
Olga Viscal Garriga
Dr. Olga Viscal Garriga , was a public orator and political activist. Garriga was an advocate of Puerto Rican independence who was sentenced to 8 years in a United States penitentiary because she refused to recognize the authority of the United States over Puerto Rico.-Early years:Olga Viscal's ...
Early years
Sánchez was born and raised by his parents in the city of Humacao, Puerto RicoHumacao, Puerto Rico
Humacao is a city in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 10 wards and Humacao Pueblo...
, which is located in the southeastern part of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. There he received his primary education. His family moved to San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
where Sánchez continued to receive his secondary and higher education. He enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
in 1955 after graduating from high school, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. It was during his days as a student at the university that he became interested in acting.
Sánchez's interest in literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
led him to enroll at the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
where in 1959 he earned his Master's Degree in dramatic arts. He eventually went to Madrid, Spain and earned his Doctorate in Literature in 1976 from the Complutense University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
.
La Pasión según Antigona Pérez
Sánchez's best known play is La Pasión según Antigona Pérez (The Passion of Antigona Perez), a tragedyTragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
set in present day Latin America, suggested by Sophocles' "Antigone". The character of "Antigona" was based on the life of Olga Viscal Garriga
Olga Viscal Garriga
Dr. Olga Viscal Garriga , was a public orator and political activist. Garriga was an advocate of Puerto Rican independence who was sentenced to 8 years in a United States penitentiary because she refused to recognize the authority of the United States over Puerto Rico.-Early years:Olga Viscal's ...
(1926–1995). Her life was rooted in politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and her 3 children. She was a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was founded on September 17, 1922. Its main objective is to work for Puerto Rican Independence.In 1919, José Coll y Cuchí, a member of the Union Party of Puerto Rico, felt that the Union Party was not doing enough for the cause of Puerto Rican independence and he...
and an accomplished speaker who spent time in jail for her political beliefs yet, she saw herself as a simple woman with simple needs. But she was not a simple woman with simple needs, she was a very complex woman with many facets of her personality. The world premiere production took place in 1968 at Old San Juan's Tapia Theater, starring Myrna Vazquez as "Antigona", during the 11th Annual Puerto Rican Theater Festival.
A highly acclaimed all-star revival opened in 1991 at San Juan's Performing Arts Center featuring Alba Nydia Diaz
Alba Nydia Díaz
Alba Nydia Díaz, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, is an actress, known for her achievements in television and on-stage, both in the island as in Mexico.-Early years:...
as "Antigona", Walter Rodriguez as "Creon", Samuel Molina as "Monsignor Escudero", Marian Pabon as "Pilar Vargas", Noelia Crespo as "Aurora", and Julia Thompson as "Irene". The production which integrated video and broadcast technology was directed by Idalia Perez Garay for Teatro del Sesenta Theater Company. It featured original music by Pedro Rivera Toledo, sets by Checo Cuevas, and film sequences supervised by well-known Puerto Rican filmmaker Luis Molina Casanova. A new production opened at San Juan's Performing Arts Center on April 8, 2011, featuring Yamaris Latorre as "Antigona", directed by Gilberto Valenzuela for Tablado Puertorriqueño Theater Company.
La Guaracha del Macho Camacho (Macho Camacho's Beat)
La Guaracha del Macho Camacho (Macho Camacho's Beat) was published in 1976. This novel moves to a guarachaGuaracha
The guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular music, of rapid tempo and with lyrics. The word had been used in this sense at least since the late 18th and early 19th century. Guarachas were played and sung in musical theatres and in low-class dance salons. They became an integral part of Bufo comic...
, a Latin rhythm, is was a band, inviting readers to imagine (or learn) what this beat sounds like. It has been suggested that the song itself is the real protagonist of the tale. The Americanization
Americanization
Americanization is the influence of the United States on the popular culture, technology, business practices, or political techniques of other countries. The term has been used since at least 1907. Inside the U.S...
of Puerto Rico is explored in this work, as well as the topic of Puerto Rican politics and the political situation of the island as a colony. One aspect of this examination can be seen as a critique of Puerto Ricans who give up their culture to assimilate into the American culture as compared to Puerto Ricans who refuses to let go of their cultural identity. The book was translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Gregory Rabassa
Gregory Rabassa
Gregory Rabassa is a renowned literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English who currently teaches at Queens College.-Life and career:Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, U.S., into a family headed by a Cuban émigré...
.
In the essay "La guagua aérea" or "The Flying Bus", Sánchez explores the concept of a bi-polar culture, the question of assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
and opposition to U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Anglo culture. Sánchez also wrote En cuerpo de camisa (In Shirt Sleeves, 1966), which is a collection of short stories.
Luis Rafael Sánchez is now a professor emeritus at the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
and the City University of New York. He also travels to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
where he has been involved in the teachings and works of theater.
Other written works
Among his other works are the following:- Los ángeles se han fatigado (Play, 1960)
- Farsa del amor compradito (Play, 1960)
- La hiel nuestra de cada día (Play, 1960)
- Sol 13, interior (Play, 1961)
- O casi el alma (Play, 1965)
- En cuerpo de camisa (Short Story Collection, 1966)
- Quintuples (Play, 1985)
- La importancia de llamarse Daniel SantosDaniel Santos (singer)Daniel Santos was a singer and composer of boleros, and an overall performer of multiple Caribbean music genres, including guaracha, plena and rumba...
(Novel, 1988)
- No llores por nosotros Puerto Rico (Essay Collection, 1998)
- Indiscreciones de un perro gringo (Novel, 2007)
Scholarship on Author
Some of the books written about Sánchez are:- El Teatro de Luis Rafael Sánchez (The Theater of Luis Rafael Sánchez) by Eliseo Colón Zayas
- Luis Rafael Sánchez: pasión teatral (Luis Rafael Sánchez: Theatrical Passion) by Gloria Waldman (also focuses on his theater production)
- Puerto Rican Cultural Identity and the Work of Luis Rafael Sánchez by John Dimitri Perivolaris
- "Cultural Studies and the Commodified Public: Luis Rafael Sanchez's La guaracha del Macho Camacho and Earl Lovelace's The Dragon Can't Dance" in Caribbean Literature and the Public Sphere: From the Plantation to the Postcolonial by Raphael Dalleo
- Para leer en puertorriqueño (In Order to Read in Puerto Rican) by Efraín Barradas
- La narrativa de Luis Rafael Sánchez: texto y contexto (The Narrative Work of Luis Rafael Sánchez) by Alvin Joaquín Figueroa
Colón Zayas and Waldman focus on theater, while Perivolaris, Dalleo, Barradas, and Figueroa analyze the narrative production of the author.
See also
- List of Puerto Rican writers
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rican literature