Anton Juan joins Erehwon
The celebrated theater director is now the center’s chief cultural consultant
Professor Anton Juan, an internationally awarded poet, playwright, director, and faculty emeritus, has joined Erehwon Center for the Arts as its chief cultural consultant.
Erehwon laid out fitting welcome ceremonies on Feb. 11, 2022 at its open-air venue, Behn Cervantes the Roofdeck. The evening was highlighted by musical numbers rendered by Erehwon Arts Council talents. The Erehwon Youth Rondalla, made up of senior high school students, played a rousing, “What a Wonderful World,” a song popularized by the famous American jazz icon Louie Armstrong.
Baritones, tenors, and sopranos then filled the night with heartfelt rendering of famous movie sound track hits from Les Miserables, Man of La Mancha, West Side Story, and Hercules. Opera singers like Raymond Roldan of the Fides Cuyugan Asencio Institute of Music and Arts (FCAIMA) and the PASIPO vocal ensemble composed of Jane Wee, Jose Javato, Rovic Solomo were accompanied by pianist Andrew Bryan Sapigao. A special request from Professor Juan was the song, “Mutya ng Pasig,” which was sung by Jane Wee.
To honor his contributions to the arts, Anton Juan has been knighted twice by the French government, receiving the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1992 and the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de Merit in 2002.
Dr. Juan is a professor and theater director at the University of Notre Dame. He completed his Ph.D. in Semiotics at the Kapodistrian and Panhellenic University of Athens. To honor his contributions to the arts, he has been knighted twice by the French government, receiving the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1992 and the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de Merit in 2002. He received the Alexander Onassis International Award for Theater (Playwriting) and the Special Jury Prize for Screenplay from the CineManila International Film Festival.
Beyond his work at Notre Dame, Dr. Juan is also the founding artistic director of the Step of Angels Theater in Athens, Greece. He was the director-general of Dulaang UP, University of the Philippines, where he has taught at the Departments of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, English and Comparative Literature, and European Languages. He was also the Fellow for Drama at the Creative Writing Center of UP.