Juan de Espinosa Medrano

Juan de Espinosa Medrano (ca. 1629 – November 13, 1688), known as El Lunarejo (“The Spotty-Faced”), was a Peruvian cleric, preacher, author of philosophical and literary tracts, and playwright. The year and place of his birth, as well as his ethnic origins, have been a matter of dispute. Some scholars believe that Espinosa Medrano was of Indian ancestry and thus discriminated against, during his career, by colonial and ecclesiastical authorities.Clorinda Matto de Turner made Espinosa Medrano the subject of an “indigenist” legend, imputing indigenous ancestry to him, “but archival research has shown that there is no evidence that Espinosa Medrano was a pitifully poor Indian, but on the contrary, that he was a man of fairly substantial means...closer to the figure of a ‘baroque gentleman’...”

He may have been born at Cálcauso in the Apurímac Region.

It is known that he entered the Dominican seminary of San Antonio Abad in Cuzco. There, as a young student, he wrote many of his plays. He wrote plays in both Spanish and Quechua. He wrote in Spanish the drama Amar su propia muerte (To Love One’s Own Death) (ca. 1645). Characters of this play include Sísara, a general of Canaan; Jabín, king of Canaan; Jael; Barac, a general of the armies of Israel.

He wrote in Quechua a religious play, El hijo pródigo (also known as Auto sacramental del hijo pródigo; The Prodigal Son), as well as a mythological piece, El rapto de Proserpina (The Abduction of Proserpina). The theatrical piece Ollantay is also attributed to him.

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