Reuben Mitchell.
Reuben Mitchell, an inspiring 31-year-old actor, was riding his motorcycle on the 3900 block of Woodland Avenue shortly after 7 a.m. on November 12 when he struck a car that was making a u-turn. He died later that evening from the injuries sustained in the accident (source: Philly.com). Reuben was cast to play the role of Magnus in an upcoming Curio Theatre show, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound.
Mourning Reuben’s death and after some difficult decisions, the theatre administration decided to cancel the first weekend of previews scheduled for November 29 – December 1 but to go on with the main production run. Josh Browns who knew Reuben well will be filling the role.
“It’s been a real tragedy for the entire Philadelphia theatre community,” says Curio’s Managing Director Gay Carducci. “Though, we have known Reuben for quite some time, The Real Inspector Hound was going to be the first show that Reuben would have done with us. After much thought we decided to continue on with the show, as we believe Reuben would have wanted us to do.”
The December 5 performance will be held in honor of Reuben, and all of the proceeds that evening will go to his family in an “effort to help them during this trying time.”
November 28th, 2012 at 10:06 am
Sad. Those damn drivers making U-turns. I wish they would take the extra minute out of their life and just drive around the block to turn around.
November 28th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Wow brendangrad, what an asinine and mean comment. Get a life man.
November 28th, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Seth, TAKE IT EASY. Brendangrad is talking about the vehicle that U-turned and collided with Reuben.
November 28th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
I agree with brendangrad. I never understood why someone would inconvenience others, hold up traffic and possibly break the law making a u-turn. Being a considerate and safe driver just means that you recognize the right of other people to “be” there, even when you don’t expect it.
November 28th, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Sorry then. Considering the larger point of the article, it seemed an inappropriate comment. I can see how I may have misconstrued Brendangrad’s intent. Apologies if I spoke too soon.
November 28th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
What a beautiful idea for Curio Theater to do for Reuben and his family.
I will certainly try to attend.
November 29th, 2012 at 9:33 am
Yes Seth. I was criticizing the driver making the U-turn who caused this accident, not the victim of this accident. That would be incredibly heartless of me to be insulting the victim. I am sorry if my comment was ambiguous. But, it was just a misunderstanding. No worries.
I see this sort of thing all the time when I am riding my bike across town. Drivers think they are allowed to make a 3 point U turn in the middle of traffic simply because they don’t want to take the minute out of their life to go around the block to turn around. I see this happen a lot, even in the middle of rush hour. Spruce Street from about 38th street down to 34th seems to be a favorite spot for this behavior.
It’s dangerous to everyone around and it’s hardly justifiable on the driver’s part. It is a completely selfish act.
The other lazy driver move I hate are the drivers who drive backwards into traffic on a one way street so they can get to the intersection behind them and turn up that street. Again, if they just go forward and go around the block it will only take a minute at most out of their precious time and it won’t risk an accident with another car, biker or pedestrian.
I wish there was real traffic enforcement with teeth in this town. I don’t like traffic tickets any more than the next guy. But they do serve a useful function. If somehow there was a cop around to ticket drivers doing this sort of thing it would be much less common. Of course I also see police officers pulling these surprise U-turns so…
November 29th, 2012 at 11:39 am
Hey Brendangrad, maybe a memorial for a deceased community member isn’t the place to rant about bad drivers. Other people already corrected Seth about your original intent. You may want to email the admin and ask that your second comment be removed.
November 29th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
What are you the comment police, Anon? No, I will not ask the admin to delete my second comment. Nor do I see what on earth was so offensive about it. My comment was on subject. I was empathetic towards the victim of this accident and I was even respectful of Seth who mistakenly trashed me in his comment. And if you think this article is not the place for me to make a comment about the kind of rampant behavior that caused this tragedy, then maybe you can just get over it and deal with the fact that not everyone is going to write a comment that fits into your idea of a perfect world. If if a memorial to a deceased community member is not the place to rant about bad drivers, it’s probably not the place for you to nitpicking over people’s innocuous comments. With all due respect, get over it.
November 29th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Honestly Reuben is laughing at you idiots. LOL. He wouldnt mind either way about your discussion here as its all thought which is what he always promoted. Question everything. 🙂 Reuben would say: ‘Maybe those of us who do drive now will think twice about U-Turning and respect and be more aware of motorcycle drivers.’
November 29th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Brendangrad, I thought perhaps you were well-meaning but unaware socially but now I see you know exactly what you’re doing and intend to make this gentleman’s memorial post as much about you as possible.
November 29th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Anon, chill out. Brendangrad was not making this about him. You made it about him. If you don’t like a post, skip over it.
November 29th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Can we just let this go and move on with our lives already? You come after me and then claim that when I defend myself that I am making this all about me. Jeez.
December 3rd, 2012 at 11:34 am
Link to theater is incorrect:
http://www.curiotheatre.org/