Although it is not uncommon to speak metaphorically about a writer as criminally transgressive, it is less common to encounter one, such as Miguel Piñero, with an actual criminal history. Piñero is best known for his 1974 play Short Eyes, a prison drama that won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award and an Obie in 1974 and was eventually made into a movie. To presuppose that his criminal history is the only driving force in Piñero's work is unfair and limiting, but to ignore its influence on his plays neglects his entire artistic formation as a playwright. His dramatic language and situations reflect his experiences in Loisaida--the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His experiences on the street and in prison helped to shape his identity as an actor, in life as well as in the theater and on the screen. Although Pi...