This full length play was another Palanca prize winning work of playwright Bienvenido M. Noriega, Jr. This was written in 1981 when the playwright won the first and second prizes – a rare feat in the Palanca Play writing contest where he was competing against the best in the country. It was even more amazing if you consider that he was working full time as Executive Vice President of the Philippine National Bank.
Jose Dalisay, a National Artist nominee in Literature wrote:
“Juan Luna is Noriega’s first historical play. Out of a sense of technical challenge and abetted by a fascination with Luna’s character , he essayed Juna Luna. Luna was perfect for what Noriega had in mind for a historical stage hero: he had led a tempestuous life, had attained brilliant heights, he had been a consummate artist ruined by a consummate love, and he could comfortably hold center stage with such renowned compatriot as Jose Rizal on the side.
The play’s content is unquestionably and classically tragic. It is the story of the downfall of a man of passion. Juan Luna, the gifted indio gains worldwide prominence through his exceptional art and by force of his irrepressible drive, he falls in love, marries and then the spheres of his art and of his marriage begin to come apart and with a lover in his wife’s embrace. Luna saves his art to some extent but not his marriage; the loss of his wife’s affection is something unequivocally beyond his control and determination and there his passion overextends itself; he shoots his wife and mother in law and the man himself is broken henceforth. “
Juan Luna was premiered at Dulaang UP in its sixth season in 1981-82. It was directed by distinguished stage director Antonio Mabesa
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