Actor Raphael Schumacher Brain Dead After Theater Hanging Scene Went Awry

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Italian actor Raphael Schumacher was declared clinically dead after he was strangled during the hanging scene of an experimental theater production.

The performance took place in the courtyard of Pisa's Teatro Lux, and, according to Italian news agency ANSA, four people are being investigated by police for manslaughter in connection to the incident.


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CNN
is reporting that a female watching the scene noticed that something was wrong when Schumacher started to tremble. With the help of another onlooker, she removed the noose and lowered him to the ground. He was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter.

Directors of the theater company putting on the performance -- which took place in various locations within the theater while spectators walked through -- told Italian newspaper Il Giorno that Schumacher's "original monologue included a fake gunshot but he eventually decided for the hanging -- without telling us."


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Cisanello Hospital in Pisa told CNN that the 27-year-old actor's family has donated his organs and doctors have begun the procedure.


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