Luis Rafael Sánchez was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on 1936. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Puerto Rico and later obtained a Ph.D. from the Central University of Mexico.
His most celebrated play, La pasión según Antígona Pérez (The Passion of Antígona Pérez) is a reimagination of Greek tragedy Antigone, where the action is set on a nameless Latin American dictatorship, and the protagonist must reveal where she buried the bodies of two executed terrorists, or else face a firing squad herself.
Works
Plays
- La espera (1958; The Wait)
- Los ángeles se han fatigado (1960; The Angels Have Become Weary)
- Farsa del amor compradito (1960; Farce of Bought Love)
- La hiel nuestra de cada día (1962; Our Daily Bile)
- O, casi el alma (1965)
- Quintuples (1985; Quintuplets)
Novels
- La guaracha del Macho Camacho (1976; Macho Camacho's Beat)
- La importancia de llamarse Daniel Santos (1989)
- Indiscreciones de un perro gringo (2007; The Indiscretions of Clinton's Dog)
Short stories
- En cuerpo de camisa (1966; In Shirtsleeves), an anthology
- La guagua aérea (1983; The Airbus
), later adapted into a film.
Tropes found in his works
- History with Celebrity: Quíntuples (Quintuplets) features the Morrison quintuplets, who were born the same year as the Dionne quintuplets, but were deemed more exotic on account on being Puerto Rican. They ended up losing their endorsements because the youngest baby boy would not stop crying during photo shoots.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: While The Passion of Antígona Pérez is a reimagining of Antigone, Antígona Pérez shares many common traits with Olga Viscal Garriga, a leader of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (see The Other Wiki for more info who was imprisoned for refusing to recognize the USA's sovereign over Puerto Rico.
