WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500 The tragic true story behind L 'Incurable, the 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:06.160 deep dive. What happens when the real -life story 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.880 of a play's cast and crew becomes just as dramatic 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.699 and heartbreaking as the script itself? In this 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:13.919 deep dive, we explore the legacy of Sebastian 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:18.039 Mancilla Olivares' 1996 theater production, L 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.800 'Incurable, the incurable disease. We trace the 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:23.839 show's journey from its premiere in Catamarca, 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:26.160 Argentina, to the intense method acting of its 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.820 stars, to the unbelievable straying of real -world 00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:31.699 tragedies, including sudden deaths and car crashes 00:00:31.699 --> 00:00:34.340 that continually halted its remakes. Whether 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:36.399 you are a fan of Argentine theater and Chilean 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:38.820 playwrights, or just compelling stories of artistic 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:41.520 resilience, this deep dive unpacks the profound 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.399 dedication required to keep a legacy alive. Tune 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:46.299 in to discover how the play eventually transformed 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:48.880 into the tribute project, Ángeles de Amor. La 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.439 enfermedad infurable, Sebastian Mancilla Olivares, 00:00:51.619 --> 00:00:53.939 Argentine theater, Chilean playwright, chronic 00:00:53.939 --> 00:00:56.719 epilepsy in media, Ismael Morandini, Ángeles 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.759 de Amor, Teatro Urbano Girardi. Welcome to today's 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.140 deep dive. I am incredibly grateful you are joining 00:01:03.140 --> 00:01:05.640 us today because the story we are exploring is, 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:08.280 well, it's one of the most profound examples 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:10.420 of artistic resilience we have ever encountered. 00:01:10.579 --> 00:01:13.010 Yeah. It really is. It's a heavy one, but so 00:01:13.010 --> 00:01:15.890 important. Exactly. We are looking at a Wikipedia 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.969 article detailing the history behind a 1996 stage 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:22.950 production called La Inframadad Incurable, which 00:01:22.950 --> 00:01:25.890 translates to The Incurable Disease. Right. And 00:01:25.890 --> 00:01:28.150 it was written a few years prior, in 1993, by 00:01:28.150 --> 00:01:31.310 the Chilean playwright and actor Sebastian Mancilla 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:34.920 Olivares. Mm -hmm. So... If you are a fan of 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.239 Argentine theater, or honestly, just stories 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:39.480 about the unbreakable bonds formed by creative 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:41.480 people, this is going to be a deeply moving journey 00:01:41.480 --> 00:01:43.260 for you. Definitely. I mean, the lines between 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:45.819 the art and the artist completely blur. Yeah. 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:47.680 And that's our mission today, really. We want 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:50.760 to trace how the intense emotional fiction of 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:53.900 this specific stage plays slowly and tragically 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:56.640 bled into the real lives of the people who created 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.099 it. It's almost unbelievable. It is. It's a story 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:01.060 that requires us to look at the immense weight 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:03.560 of human grief and the lengths people will go 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:06.870 to in order to keep a legacy alive. Okay, let's 00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:08.830 unpack this. Let's do it. To really understand 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:11.069 the lives of these artists, we first have to 00:02:11.069 --> 00:02:12.830 understand the fiction that brought them all 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.770 together. Could you set the scene for the original 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:18.389 narrative of this play? Sure. So the narrative 00:02:18.389 --> 00:02:21.090 anchors itself in Santiago de Chile in the year 00:02:21.090 --> 00:02:24.169 1990. Okay. The protagonist is a young man named 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:28.300 Juan. And the central conflict of his life and 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:31.419 really of the entire play is his battle with 00:02:31.419 --> 00:02:33.659 chronic epilepsy. Right. Which is an incredibly 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:36.180 difficult premise. It is. And to truly grasp 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:38.400 the weight of this premise, we have to consider 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.159 what chronic epilepsy meant in that specific 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:43.919 era and setting. You know, we are not just talking 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:46.500 about occasional seizures. The text implies a 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:49.039 severe progressive condition. Like life altering 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:51.620 severity. Exactly. For a patient like Juan, this 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:53.699 means living with a constant invisible sword 00:02:53.699 --> 00:02:56.419 hanging over his head. It dictates his independence, 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:59.580 his physical safety, and this is key, the intense 00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:02.939 postictal periods. Postictal. Like the aftermath. 00:03:03.139 --> 00:03:05.759 Yeah, the exhaustion and the severe migraines 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.159 that follow the seizures. They can leave a person 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:11.560 physically shattered for days. It is just an 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:13.759 incredibly heavy burden for a young person to 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.719 carry. That context adds so much pressure to 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.280 the situation. And there's a specific ticking 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:21.819 clock built into the narrative, right, that makes 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:24.719 it even more tense. Oh, absolutely. Because the 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:27.080 story points out that modern medicine is actively 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:31.080 working to extend Juan's life expectancy. But... 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:33.530 And here's the tragic part. The doctors have 00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:35.870 pulled Juan's mother aside, a character named 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:38.509 Eleonora. Right. They give her a private prognosis. 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:41.990 A devastating one. Despite all the medical advancements, 00:03:42.009 --> 00:03:43.849 they basically tell her they believe Juan will 00:03:43.849 --> 00:03:46.449 likely not survive past the age of 18. Which 00:03:46.449 --> 00:03:48.849 is just, I mean, imagine hearing that as a parent. 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:51.530 Yeah. Eleonora is forced to carry that terrible 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:55.330 secret. Just watching her son grow up while quietly 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:58.439 counting down his remaining days. It is a phenomenal 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:00.879 dramatic premise because it immediately forces 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.199 this philosophical confrontation with mortality. 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:05.659 And what's fascinating here is the overarching 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:08.360 theme that the playwright, Sebastian Mancilla 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.759 Olivares, extracts from that prognosis. Right. 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:14.639 It's not just a story about being sick. No, not 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.300 at all. It operates fundamentally as a carpe 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:20.860 diem story. Seize the day. Juan is living under 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:23.000 the shadow of a radically shortened lifespan. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.920 And even if he doesn't know the exact medical 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:28.860 timeline his mother is hiding, he acutely senses 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:31.939 the fragility of his own body. He knows he could 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:34.160 die at any moment. So it's about his reaction 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.899 to that. Exactly. The play explores his defiant 00:04:37.899 --> 00:04:40.839 reaction to that reality. Instead of withdrawing 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:43.420 into isolation or, you know, becoming paralyzed 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:47.189 by fear. He makes an active choice to live every 00:04:47.189 --> 00:04:50.569 single day as fully as possible. That refusal 00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:52.910 to just be a passive patient waiting for the 00:04:52.910 --> 00:04:55.910 end is such a compelling hook. His desire to 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.329 live leads him to travel around the city to explore 00:04:58.329 --> 00:05:00.449 his surroundings, and eventually it leads him 00:05:00.449 --> 00:05:03.310 to find love. Yes, the romance subplot. During 00:05:03.310 --> 00:05:06.290 his travels, he meets a girl named Selena. And 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:07.889 I have to say, the setting for their meeting 00:05:07.889 --> 00:05:10.600 is incredibly charming. She sells vintage records 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:12.620 at a shop just a few blocks away from Juan's 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.100 house. It's a great setting. It really is. It's 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:18.639 such a grounded nostalgic location. You can easily 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.800 visualize the dusty record sleeves, the crackle 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:24.180 of vinyl playing in the background, the quiet 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:27.550 intimacy of two people bonding over music. It 00:05:27.550 --> 00:05:30.050 leans into this classic romance trope that adds 00:05:30.050 --> 00:05:33.050 a vital layer of warmth to a story that is otherwise 00:05:33.050 --> 00:05:36.850 so heavily overshadowed by illness. The vintage 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:39.009 record store serves a crucial narrative function, 00:05:39.189 --> 00:05:41.889 really. It provides the necessary lightness and 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:45.569 sensory texture to contrast the very clinical 00:05:45.569 --> 00:05:48.089 heavy themes of chronic illness and impending 00:05:48.089 --> 00:05:50.180 death. It gives you room to breathe. Exactly. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.899 That romance isn't just a subplot. It becomes 00:05:52.899 --> 00:05:56.240 the anchor of Juan's entire philosophy. Selena 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.860 represents the life he is so desperately fighting 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:01.519 to experience. The play beautifully balances 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:04.180 the grim reality of his failing body with the 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:06.740 vibrant, hopeful reality of first love. Now, 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:08.759 knowing how emotionally demanding that plot is, 00:06:08.860 --> 00:06:11.040 I am incredibly curious about what it took to 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.199 actually stage this production. Because they 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.000 didn't just read this in a room once. No, they 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.139 took it on the road. The show officially premiered 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:20.639 in July 1996 at the Sine Catro San Fernando del 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.100 Valle de Catamarca in Argentina. And from there, 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:26.660 the cast embarked on what sounds like a grueling 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:29.540 tour. Very grueling. They took the show to Salta, 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.759 Tucumán, Mendoza, and all the way down to Ushuaia, 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:36.240 the very southern tip of South America. What 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.379 was the reality of taking a heavy, independent 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:41.480 production on the road like that in the mid -1990s? 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:43.949 Well, touring independent theater in South America 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:46.709 during the 1990s was an exercise in absolute 00:06:46.709 --> 00:06:49.550 endurance. You have to picture long, exhausting 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:52.529 bus rides across vast distances. Yeah, that's 00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:55.509 a huge geographical spread. Huge. From the mountainous 00:06:55.509 --> 00:06:57.870 terrain of Mendoza down to the harsh, isolated 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:00.750 cold of Ushuaia. And these actors were doing 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:02.629 everything. They were setting up their own stages, 00:07:02.769 --> 00:07:05.149 managing their own wardrobes, and living in incredibly 00:07:05.149 --> 00:07:07.920 close quarters. I can't imagine the stress. Right. 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:09.800 And when you are living and breathing the same 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.180 air as your castmates, sharing cheap meals, and 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:14.379 then performing a play about a dying child every 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:16.879 single night, you develop a phenomenon known 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:19.540 in theatrical psychology as enmeshment. Enmeshment. 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:22.259 Yeah. The boundaries between the individual and 00:07:22.259 --> 00:07:25.339 the ensemble blur. You become a deeply insular, 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.319 tightly knit family bound together by the emotional 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.860 labor of the art. That makes me wonder how the 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:33.939 actors physically and mentally prepared for the 00:07:33.939 --> 00:07:37.100 kind of nightly emotional labor. I mean... Playing 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:39.420 a character battling severe chronic epilepsy 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:41.720 and dealing with that level of vulnerability, 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:44.240 that requires a specific kind of dedication. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.379 It does. How did the lead actor, Ismael Morandini, 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:49.839 approach the role of Juan? His dedication was 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:52.600 staggering, honestly. To accurately portray a 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.180 young man battling severe chronic epilepsy, Morandini 00:07:56.180 --> 00:07:58.579 committed to an intense period of method acting. 00:07:58.699 --> 00:08:00.579 He went all in. He really did. He didn't just 00:08:00.579 --> 00:08:03.120 learn his dialogue. He spent six solid months 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.519 studying seizures and chronic migraines. Six 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:08.240 months. Wow. Yes. He analyzed the physical mechanics 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.000 of a seizure, the loss of bodily control, and 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:13.959 the agonizing physical aftermath. He internalized 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:16.160 that pain. That sounds dangerous psychologically. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.120 It is. When an actor undergoes that level of 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:22.899 immersive research, they are essentially tricking 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:25.220 their nervous system into experiencing the trauma 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.100 of the illness. It takes a massive psychological 00:08:28.100 --> 00:08:31.189 toll. If the lead actor is going to those dark 00:08:31.189 --> 00:08:34.149 places, internalizing that kind of pain, I have 00:08:34.149 --> 00:08:36.350 to imagine it profoundly affects the rest of 00:08:36.350 --> 00:08:38.190 the cast who are interacting with him on stage. 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:41.210 Oh, absolutely. How did the actresses playing 00:08:41.210 --> 00:08:43.769 his mother and his love interest handle that 00:08:43.769 --> 00:08:46.769 energy? They absorbed it completely. And the 00:08:46.769 --> 00:08:49.009 historical record of this production notes the 00:08:49.009 --> 00:08:51.909 sheer emotional exhaustion they faced. Juliana 00:08:51.909 --> 00:08:54.330 Reyes, the actress playing Han's mother, Eleonora, 00:08:54.470 --> 00:08:57.309 she found the role absolutely draining. Because 00:08:57.309 --> 00:08:59.509 of the secret she had to carry. Partially that, 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:02.129 yes. And there were moments in the script where 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:05.009 she had to express the dark, unspoken frustrations 00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:08.049 of being a caregiver, literally speaking, ill 00:09:08.049 --> 00:09:11.049 of one out of sheer despair. Oh, wow. The sources 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:13.009 tell us that Reyes could not hold back genuine 00:09:13.009 --> 00:09:15.330 tears on stage when delivering those lines. She 00:09:15.330 --> 00:09:17.629 was really crying. That is heartbreaking. And 00:09:17.629 --> 00:09:20.570 we see the exact same visceral reaction from 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:23.940 Lou Rodriguez, the actress playing Selena. Every 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:26.440 single night, the ending of the play broke her 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:29.200 heart. She could not avoid shedding real tears 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:31.879 as the narrative reached its conclusion. It is 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:33.679 astonishing to think about them going through 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.000 that cycle of genuine grief night after night. 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:40.139 city after city. Right. And if we connect this 00:09:40.139 --> 00:09:43.320 to the bigger picture, it illuminates why this 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:45.779 play resonated so deeply with its audiences. 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:47.980 How so? This wasn't a group of professionals 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.019 merely hitting their marks and reciting lines 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:52.940 for a paycheck. The visceral emotional weight 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:55.139 they carried elevated the entire production. 00:09:55.419 --> 00:09:58.240 The performative grief became a vehicle for their 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:00.659 actual empathy and exhaustion. It was real to 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:02.919 them. It was. And it makes you wonder as you 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.220 listen to this, what stands out to you in that 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:07.639 dynamic? Is it the sheer discipline of Morandini 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:10.100 dedicating six months to medical research? Or 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.500 is it those genuine, unscripted tears falling 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:14.820 from Reyes and Rodriguez on the stage? Both are 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:18.299 just incredible. Both represent a total, uncompromising 00:10:18.299 --> 00:10:20.980 surrender to the art form. That total surrender 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.919 forged a bond that clearly outlasted the original 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:27.440 1996 tour. Because the story of La Informidad 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.139 Incurable didn't end when they finally packed 00:10:30.139 --> 00:10:32.960 up the sets. No, it didn't. Years later, in 2001, 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:36.299 the play is revived. It reopens at the Teatro 00:10:36.299 --> 00:10:39.740 Urbano Girardi. The original playwright, Sebastian 00:10:39.740 --> 00:10:42.480 Mancilla Olivares, returns to direct it, but 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:44.879 he brings in a completely new cast to tell the 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.740 story to a new audience. Revivals are a fascinating 00:10:47.740 --> 00:10:50.440 test of a play's endurance. It is an opportunity 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:52.740 to see if the magic of the original production 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:55.600 was purely due to that specific group of enmeshed 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.379 actors, or if the text itself has the structural 00:10:58.379 --> 00:11:00.779 integrity to stand on its own with new interpreters. 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:02.700 And here's where it gets really interesting. 00:11:03.289 --> 00:11:05.450 Looking at the production details for this 2001 00:11:05.450 --> 00:11:07.950 revival, the funding came from a man named Az 00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:11.409 Martinez. Right. And that name is a massive piece 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:13.850 of this puzzle. Do we know what his connection 00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:15.909 to the original production was? The connection 00:11:15.909 --> 00:11:18.470 is arguably the most beautiful detail of this 00:11:18.470 --> 00:11:21.210 entire history. Az Martinez was not some outside 00:11:21.210 --> 00:11:23.230 theatrical investor or a wealthy patron of the 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:26.309 arts. He was actually in the original 1996 cast. 00:11:26.610 --> 00:11:28.820 But wait, playing who? He played the six -year 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:31.440 -old child version of Juan. That is just incredible. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.580 He was literally a child when they were on that 00:11:33.580 --> 00:11:36.399 grueling tour. Yeah. He grew up watching Ismael 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:39.820 Morandini do that intense method acting, watching 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:42.460 Juliana Reyes and Lou Rodriguez shed genuine 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:46.440 tears on stage. That experience, that level of 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:49.320 profound artistic dedication, clearly left a 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.779 permanent mark on his life. It absolutely did. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:55.379 So much so that years later... He used his own 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:57.899 resources to step up and ensure the story continues. 00:11:58.179 --> 00:12:00.580 It speaks volumes about the family dynamic we 00:12:00.580 --> 00:12:03.220 discussed earlier. That theater troupe essentially 00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:06.480 raised him in a creative sense. By funding the 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:09.039 2001 revival, he wasn't just producing a play. 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:11.500 He was honoring the formative figures of his 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:14.259 childhood. He was acting as the caretaker of 00:12:14.259 --> 00:12:16.860 their collective memory. It is a brilliant full 00:12:16.860 --> 00:12:19.139 -circle moment of a legacy being passed down 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:21.600 to the next generation. And this is hard to transition 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.500 to. It is difficult to even talk about the next 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:25.500 few years. Yeah, it gets very dark. The timeline 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:29.120 takes a genuinely heartbreaking turn. The legacy 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.559 of this play becomes almost inexplicably tied 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:34.820 to real -world tragedy. Let's walk through the 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:37.080 timeline of what happened after that 2001 revival. 00:12:37.379 --> 00:12:40.879 Okay. The years pass, and in 2008, the team starts 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.460 considering another remake of the story. But 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:45.559 before they can gain any momentum, the project 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.220 is abruptly halted. The creator and director, 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:51.370 Sebastian Mencila Olivares, suffers a... devastating 00:12:51.370 --> 00:12:54.129 personal loss. The death of his mother. Yes. 00:12:54.350 --> 00:12:57.470 When you consider the thematic focus of La Enfermadad 00:12:57.470 --> 00:13:00.649 Incurable, a play fundamentally about the agonizing, 00:13:00.690 --> 00:13:03.730 complex bond between a mother and her dying child, 00:13:04.009 --> 00:13:06.610 the psychological impact of his real mother's 00:13:06.610 --> 00:13:08.769 death must have been insurmountable. The parallels 00:13:08.769 --> 00:13:11.009 are terrifying. The themes he had written as 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:13.830 fiction were now his reality. The grief he had 00:13:13.830 --> 00:13:15.990 asked his actors to portray for years was suddenly 00:13:15.990 --> 00:13:18.710 sitting directly on his own shoulders. The devastation 00:13:18.710 --> 00:13:20.990 was absolute, and the following year, in 2009, 00:13:21.289 --> 00:13:24.289 Sebastian Menzel Olivares tragically passes away. 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:27.070 The records state he died from depression. It's 00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:29.350 awful. The playwright, the architect of this 00:13:29.350 --> 00:13:31.570 entire theater family was suddenly gone. It is 00:13:31.570 --> 00:13:34.149 a profoundly sobering reminder of the unseen 00:13:34.149 --> 00:13:37.149 battles people fight and how intimately tied 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:39.529 an artist's emotional well -being can be to their 00:13:39.529 --> 00:13:42.519 work and their personal losses. Following his 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:44.940 death, the remaining members of the theater family 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:48.879 faced a monumental void. But in 2010, Ismael 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.179 Morandini, the original actor who played Juan, 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:53.960 who had studied so rigorously to bring Olivares' 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:57.840 words to life, decides to revitalize the project. 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:01.100 He wanted to honor him. Yes. He sets out to mount 00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:04.220 a remake specifically in honor of Mancilla. It 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:06.220 is designed to be a beautiful, living tribute 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:08.720 to his fallen director and friend. Using the 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.419 art they created together as a framework to process 00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:14.299 their grief, it is a very natural, albeit painful, 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.759 instinct for artists. They wanted to build a 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:18.840 monument to him using the only materials that 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.840 made sense, a stage and a script. But the tribute 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:24.259 never makes it to the stage. No. While traveling 00:14:24.259 --> 00:14:26.740 to Tucumán, Catamarca, which incredibly is one 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:28.539 of the very cities they toured during that original 00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:31.820 1996 run, Ismael Morabini is killed in a sudden 00:14:31.820 --> 00:14:34.340 car accident. It's just devastating. The creator 00:14:34.340 --> 00:14:37.299 is lost to depression, and the lead actor, while 00:14:37.299 --> 00:14:39.299 actively trying to honor the creator's memory, 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:41.879 is killed in a crash on his way to the theater 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:44.639 district. The project understandably goes completely 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:48.220 into limbo. The sheer volume of loss is staggering. 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:50.919 It is a dense, almost suffocating sequence of 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:53.600 tragedies that forces us to look at the philosophical 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:57.759 irony of life imitating art. You step back and 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.980 look at the foundation of this group. a play 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:02.480 entirely centered on a shortened life expectancy. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.000 The title itself, The Incurable Disease. Right. 00:15:06.139 --> 00:15:08.600 The title itself warns of it. It is a narrative 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.500 about the extreme fragility of life, the unfairness 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:13.700 of an early death, and how quickly everything 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:16.720 can be taken away. And then you look at the real 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:18.299 -world events that swallowed the production. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.429 It's uncanny. You see that profound thematic 00:15:21.429 --> 00:15:24.029 irony perfectly and tragically mirrored by the 00:15:24.029 --> 00:15:26.250 premature deaths of both its creator and its 00:15:26.250 --> 00:15:29.129 lead actor. The fiction and the reality become 00:15:29.129 --> 00:15:31.870 entirely indistinguishable. The play spent years 00:15:31.870 --> 00:15:34.149 warning them about the brevity of life, and then 00:15:34.149 --> 00:15:36.110 life proved the playwright in the most heartbreaking 00:15:36.110 --> 00:15:39.610 way imaginable. That gives me chills. It frames 00:15:39.610 --> 00:15:41.970 the original script as an unintentional prophecy. 00:15:42.289 --> 00:15:44.009 They were performing their own eulogies without 00:15:44.009 --> 00:15:47.100 even knowing it. Exactly. But... As dark as that 00:15:47.100 --> 00:15:49.659 period was, the story of this theater family 00:15:49.659 --> 00:15:53.740 does not end in limbo. Their resilience is something 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:57.259 to behold. We move forward to the year 2013. 00:15:57.620 --> 00:16:00.639 The project has been dead for three years. The 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:02.919 primary visionary and the leading man are both 00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:06.039 gone. But then a public announcement is made. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.340 The project is back on. And the person making 00:16:08.340 --> 00:16:10.799 that announcement is a familiar name. As Martinez 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.840 steps into the light once again. Yes. The former 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.000 six -year -old child actor who funded the 2001 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:19.620 revival. He steps up for a third time. He announces 00:16:19.620 --> 00:16:21.629 that they are going to remake the play. aiming 00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:24.149 for a late 2014 release. And they make a really 00:16:24.149 --> 00:16:26.429 important change here. They do. They make a highly 00:16:26.429 --> 00:16:28.970 significant creative decision. They rebrand the 00:16:28.970 --> 00:16:31.070 entire production. It is no longer going to be 00:16:31.070 --> 00:16:33.409 performed under the title Love from an Adincurable. 00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:36.629 The remake is officially retitled Angelus the 00:16:36.629 --> 00:16:39.610 Amour Angels of Love. And adding to the emotional 00:16:39.610 --> 00:16:42.570 weight of this return, Lou Rodriguez, the original 00:16:42.570 --> 00:16:45.029 actress who played Saluna, who used to cry real 00:16:45.029 --> 00:16:48.230 tears at the ending every night in 1996, returns 00:16:48.230 --> 00:16:50.980 to help guide the development. That title change 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:53.419 is a masterstroke of emotional intelligence. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.500 By shifting the name from the incurable disease 00:16:56.500 --> 00:17:00.259 to Angels of Love, they are fundamentally reframing 00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:02.399 the legacy of the play. Taking the power back. 00:17:02.539 --> 00:17:05.480 Exactly. It ceases to be defined by the tragedy, 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.380 the illness, or the curse of its history. It 00:17:08.380 --> 00:17:11.019 transitions into a tribute to the angels they 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:14.240 lost to Mansilla and to Morandini. It becomes 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.579 a celebration of the love that held their theater 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:18.779 troupe together through decades of hardship. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.500 So what does this all mean? When you look at 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:23.240 this expansive timeline, stretching from the 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:26.019 initial script in 1993 all the way to the rebranded 00:17:26.019 --> 00:17:29.339 release in 2014, you witness the ultimate testament 00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:31.660 to the endurance of a chosen family. You really 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:34.400 do. You have the literal youngest member of that 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:37.420 1996 cast growing into adulthood, navigating 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:39.819 immense grief and stepping into a leadership 00:17:39.819 --> 00:17:42.740 role to ensure the story survives. He acts as 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:44.839 the final shield against his mentors being forgotten. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:48.440 It is a phenomenal demonstration of how art binds 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:51.359 us. Which brings us to an essential realization 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:54.039 for you, listening to this deep dive right now. 00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:56.279 Yeah, why does this matter today? Right, you 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:58.440 might be navigating your own busy life, your 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:00.900 own work, your own challenges, and wondering 00:18:00.900 --> 00:18:04.759 why an obscure 1990s South American stage play 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:08.319 matters to your world today. Why dissect this 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:11.039 specific history? It is a fair question to ask 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.740 when looking at the grand scheme of history. 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:15.839 It matters because it serves as an absolute masterclass 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:18.619 in the human capacity for connection. We frequently 00:18:18.619 --> 00:18:21.019 treat art, whether it's theater, film, or literature, 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.720 as disposable entertainment. We consume the narrative, 00:18:24.859 --> 00:18:27.019 we feel a brief emotion, and we move on. We just 00:18:27.019 --> 00:18:29.839 scroll to the next thing. Exactly. But the history 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:32.289 of Lant for Medad and Curable... pulls back the 00:18:32.289 --> 00:18:34.529 curtain to reveal the beating, bleeding heart 00:18:34.529 --> 00:18:37.049 behind the performance. It proves that a single 00:18:37.049 --> 00:18:39.930 creative endeavor, if pursued with absolute authenticity, 00:18:40.410 --> 00:18:43.609 can bind a group of individuals together so inextricably 00:18:43.609 --> 00:18:46.009 that they will spend decades of their lives enduring 00:18:46.009 --> 00:18:49.009 immense, soul -crushing heartbreak just to keep 00:18:49.009 --> 00:18:50.869 each other's memories alive. That's incredibly 00:18:50.869 --> 00:18:53.210 profound. Yeah. It is a testament to the fact 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:55.369 that when you pour your genuine self into your 00:18:55.369 --> 00:18:58.380 work, that workout lives you. The enmeshment 00:18:58.380 --> 00:19:00.740 doesn't end when the curtain falls. It inspires 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.640 the next generation. Quite literally in the case 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:05.660 of the child actor who grew up to carry the torch. 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:08.740 That perspective completely transforms how I 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:11.680 view any performance. It makes you realize that 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:14.099 behind every character standing on a stage, there 00:19:14.099 --> 00:19:16.740 is a real human being who might be carrying the 00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:19.259 psychological weight of that role and the memories 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:21.369 of their castmates. for the rest of their natural 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:23.849 life it does and this raises an important question 00:19:23.849 --> 00:19:25.849 and perhaps a provocative final thought for you 00:19:25.849 --> 00:19:28.650 to mull over long after this deep dive concludes 00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:31.710 okay let's hear it when a piece of art becomes 00:19:31.710 --> 00:19:34.490 saturated with so much real life tragedy does 00:19:34.490 --> 00:19:37.109 it fundamentally alter the way the audience consumes 00:19:37.109 --> 00:19:40.130 that art think about the experience of sitting 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:43.190 in the audience for the 2014 premiere of angelus 00:19:43.190 --> 00:19:45.069 de amor knowing everything they went through 00:19:45.349 --> 00:19:48.789 Exactly. If you are aware of the grueling 1996 00:19:48.789 --> 00:19:52.150 tour, the mother's death, the creator's depression 00:19:52.150 --> 00:19:55.410 and the lead actors fatal car crash. Does the 00:19:55.410 --> 00:19:58.109 play cease to be just a fictional story about 00:19:58.109 --> 00:20:00.349 a boy named Juan with epilepsy? Does it become 00:20:00.349 --> 00:20:03.230 something else? Yes. Does the art transform right 00:20:03.230 --> 00:20:05.690 in front of your eyes, stepping entirely out 00:20:05.690 --> 00:20:08.410 of the realm of fiction to become a living, breathing 00:20:08.410 --> 00:20:10.769 memorial to the flesh and blood people who died 00:20:10.769 --> 00:20:13.869 trying to tell it? Does the context of the creator's 00:20:13.869 --> 00:20:16.269 death permanently alter the DNA of the script? 00:20:16.509 --> 00:20:18.789 That is an incredibly powerful thought to leave 00:20:18.789 --> 00:20:21.569 on. The tears shed on that stage wouldn't just 00:20:21.569 --> 00:20:23.289 be acting anymore. They would be an invitation 00:20:23.289 --> 00:20:26.569 for the audience to share in a very real, very 00:20:26.569 --> 00:20:29.069 present grief. Thank you so much for joining 00:20:29.069 --> 00:20:31.460 us on this profound journey today. Exploring 00:20:31.460 --> 00:20:33.599 the true story behind Lanfermidon Incurable has 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.059 been a moving reminder of the passion, the heartbreak, 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.119 and the enduring resilience of artists everywhere. 00:20:38.380 --> 00:20:40.400 We hope you found this exploration as deeply 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:42.140 affecting as we did. Until next time.