ABSTRACT
Cosme Perez was an uncloseted homosexual who developed a queer theatrical alter ego called Juan Rana. Actor and theatrical mascara blended together to the point that people referred to the actor as Juan Rana. Throughout the Juan Rana plays, he is referred to, and he refers to himself, using both male and female pronouns and adjectives depending on the circumstances. Juan Rana was a queer character in the amplest sense of the term. Queerness is only one of the many traits that configure Juan Rana’s persona. Notwithstanding his professional and personal success as Juan Rana, Cosme might have regretted becoming a typecast actor. The Juan Rana pieces were staged mostly in the royal palace for a select audience of courtiers and members of the royal family. When violence appears in the Juan Rana entremeses, it does so as a fruitless attempts to make zim fit into a specific gender.
