Young actor proves show must go on

When Bryan Kido took the Rose Wagner stage in Plan-B Theatre Company's "BLOCK 8" last Sunday, his lung was 40 percent collapsed.

"I finished the show, but it was painful," he said from his hospital bed.

"I could feel it on Saturday, " Kido said during a phone interview, "But it didn't feel serious until Sunday."

Up to that point Kido was starring as Ken in "BLOCK 8," written by local playwright Matthew Ivan Bennett. The two-person original play tells the story of Ken, a young Japanese American who is sent with his family to Topaz — an internment camp in Utah's west deseret during World War II.

There he forms an unlikely friendship with Ada, a Mormon woman working as the camp's librarian, whose son is serving in the Pacific.

With six shows left in the run, all of which are sold out, Kido was concerned about having to leave the production. "I didn't want to let anybody down," he said.

So, he tried to ignore it.

"I tried not to make it apparent," Kido said.

Kido suffers from Blebs Disease — a condition where a fluid-filled blister can cause the lungs to collapse. He's had it happen twice before.

"Sometimes my lungs get inflamed, and it's painful but that doesn't mean it's going to collapse, so I didn't say anything."

"But Sunday it was so bad that I had to tell them."

Jerry Rapier, producing director of Plan-B and director of "BLOCK 8," said Kido "came in Sunday and said, 'I know my lung has collapsed, but I want to do the show,' "

"I said, 'Are you sure? Don't do something silly.' But it was clear he wanted to do the show," Rapier said.

Rapier sat in the house, his eyes glued to Kido. "He was determined," Rapier said. "We agreed that he would look directly at me and give me a nod if he needed to end early."

"I was watching the show, texting his mother. Any time he took a breath or paused, we'd get nervous," said Rapier. "Soon it was clear that he wasn't going to stop."

Kido took his bow and was immediately rushed to the hospital for surgery — tubes were inserted to help keep his lungs inflated.

"I feel mostly OK," Kido said. "I still have a tube in my chest, and my lungs are trying to heal."