Miguel Pinero's creative and turbulent life was cut short at age 40: a Tony Award nominee who did time at Sing-Sing, a volatile urban poet whose work is recognized as a precursor to rap and hip-hop, and a writer of hit TV shows.

"Piñero" tells the story of the explosive life of a Latino icon, the poet-playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. After he served time in hard-core Sing-Sing for petty thefts and drug dealing, Piñero's prison experiences developed into the 1974 Tony-nominated play 'Short Eyes.' The resulting notoriety and fame was too much for the Latino bad-boy genius, who retreated to the darker corners of New York City.—<[email protected]>

Hot-head Miguel Piñero, son of wealthy Puerto Rican immigrants in New York, is still drawn to drugs and petty crime and ends up in jail. A play he wrote in Sing Sing, 'Short Eyes,' in an innovating style, swift and sharp, yet rhythmic, is his way to fame. Still he never conforms to or fits into US society, which he criticizes in 'revolutionary' terms.—KGF Vissers