The stage version of Tuesdays with Morrie, adapted from a best-selling memoir by US author Mitch Albom, draws attention to the struggles of patients suffering from a fatal nerve cell disease.
In the 1997 memoir, Albom recounts the life lessons he learned from his visits with his former professor Morrie Schwartz, who was dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.
The book has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for TV and stage.
The local version of Tuesdays with Morrie is directed by Daniel Yang (楊世彭), formerly of the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre. It features veteran actor Chin Shih-chieh (金士傑) in the role of Morrie and Pu Hsueh-liang (卜學亮) as the student.
Yang, Chin, and Pu yesterday went to Taipei City Hospital to visit the 17 ALS patients there who are confined to bed.
“As an actor, I communicate through acting, but now I realize how valuable it is to be able to communicate,” Chin said.
Yang said that he hopes the play will increase public awareness of the difficulties faced by ALS patients.
There are about 1,200 ALS patients in Taiwan.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper