Tuesdays with Morrie Manila Actor Collapses Onstage
Jose Mari Avellana Collapses During Curtain Call Before they were to take their bows, director-actor Bart Guingona recalls in a Philippine Daily Inquirer article, “He [Jose Mari Avellana] collapsed. Mari’s family rushed up onstage, his daughters near hysteria. When they sat him up, he vomited what looked like at least a bucket of blood.
“When I turned to the audience to call for a doctor in the house… I was faced with an uncomprehending audience, glued to their seats. I later learned that many had thought it was all part of the show.”
Jose Mari Avellana Recovers Jose Mari Avellana’s condition was discovered to have been brought about by a painkiller that was taken before the show. Mr. Avellana swallowed the painkiller because of a twisted ankle, not knowing that his stomach ulcers would react strongly to the over the counter medicine.
Mr. Avellana is now recovering and “out of danger.”
His co-actor in the Repertory Philippines production of Tuesdays with Morrie, Bart Guingona, marvels, “Mari finished the show! In extreme pain and with a possibly fatal condition, he actually forced himself to make it through to the end! [He] almost died to entertain us.”
Dead or Dying It might seem foolhardy and incomprehensible to the general public, but, I must point out that theatre actors were instilled with the concept that the show must go on at all costs. The only acceptable reasons for not performing are either you’re dead or dying.
I have heard the dead or dying concept from two of Philippine theatre’s greatest directors— Dulaang UP’s Tony Mabesa and the late Repertory Philippines Tita Bibot Amador— advocated strongly when inexperienced actors try to excuse their unprofessional behavior.
The Ghost of Ella Luansing However, even death may not deter a determined actor. Some actors and audience members reported that they saw the ghost of theatre legend Ella Luansing onstage during Teatro Pilipino’s final opus and tribute to her— the Filipino translation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night—the production that was supposed to be her directorial debut (and my acting debut as well with the admired theatre company) before her untimely death in a car accident.
Founder of Teatro Pilipino, director, actor, translator, playwright and genius Rolando Tinio took over the directorial duties, and deconstructed Ikalabindalawang Gabi to contain all of the famous monologues that his wife, Ella Luansing, is known for; and, characteristically, in Tinio fashion, turned the Shakespearean comedy into a celebratory dirge.
The former Rolando Tinio was not surprised with these ghostly reports, and brightly commented that why shouldn’t his wife be onstage, since the play gives tribute to her, for she is, literally, the star of the show.
(Thank you to Gibbs Cadiz for the heads up regarding the Tuesdays with Morrie drama.)
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