Italian actor Raphael Schumacher has been declared dead after a stage hanging suicide scene that went wrong.
The 27-year-old was performing in an experimental theater production at the Pisa’s Teatro Lux on Friday, Feb 5 when a member of the audience noticed that the rope around his neck was too tight. Schumacher’s face was covered at the time but the female medical graduate noticed that he was trembling and realized something was wrong.
After they lowered the rope, he was immediately rushed to the hospital where he remained in a coma until he was pronounced brain dead from severe oxygen deprivation.
A spokesperson for the Cisanello Hospital in Pisa told CNN that his family authorized the harvesting of his organs and that doctors have already started the procedure.
The directors of the theater company told the Italian newspaper II Giorno that the original monologue included a fake gunshot, but Schumacher changed the scene without telling them.
Police have started an investigation to see if proper safety measures were taken into consideration. Four people are under investigation for manslaughter as the actor’s family and close friends do not believe that he took his own life, according to CNN.
I suppose asking the names of the Stage Manager and Tech Director is useless after the fact. Here in the states a train ran over the crew of a movie shooting in Georgia last year. Remembrances of Freddie Prince, the accident on The Crow as well. Hire stunt coordinators that have major credits. Rehearsals must happen often even after several performances. This is amateurish experimental staging that fatality killed a beautiful young actor. Completely senseless… producers, director need to be held in part responsible.jv, florida usa @JEV1A