After Matt leaves with the Federal marshals, Ellen goes back to the hospital. She tells everyone that Matt is on indefinite leave due to personal business, and that he has left Port Charles. Grace suspects that this is not true, and she cannot believe that Matt left Port Charles without saying goodbye to her.

Ellen returns home that evening to find Matt waiting for her in her apartment. He tells her that he has left the Witness Protection Program because he is tired of running, and also because of his feelings for her. Ellen insists that Matt stay at her apartment for a while until he is sure that he is not being pursued by the Mancusi mob. Matt agrees. He shares more of his life on the run with Ellen. He tells her that the last time he had to leave suddenly was when he was 19 years old, and in love with a girl. The Federal agents did not even give him a chance to say goodbye to her when they took him. He is in the middle of this story when there is a knock at the door. It is Grace. Matt tells Ellen to say that he is not there, and goes to the back of Ellen's apartment. Ellen lets Grace in.

Grace is frantic with worry over Matt. She tells Ellen that she and Matt had become very close and that they were on the verge of going to the next step in their relationship when Matt disappeared. Matt overhears Grace's conversation and shakes his head. Ellen denies that she knows Matt's whereabouts. Grace says that she will find Matt herself. As she is leaving, she sees Matt's personal address book on Ellen's hallway table and realizes that Matt is with Ellen. At that point, Matt emerges from the back of the apartment and confronts Grace. Realizing that Grace only knows half-truths that could endanger them all, Matt decides to confide in Grace, and he tells her about his being in the Witness Protection Program.

At that point, Matt again reasons that there is no possible way that the Mancusi's could know that he is in Port Charles. He decides to go back to his apartment and to work and try to assume as normal as life as possible. As Matt makes this decision, we see a gleeful Chris Ramsey with a photo of Matt in his hands. He turns it over and writes "Port Charles, New York" on the back. He seals it into an envelope addressed to Salvatore Mancusi in Philadelphia. Chris also sends Matt e-mail saying that Matt has been found.

Matt becomes frantic over the e-mail and the fact that more and more people seem to be figuring out what his secret is. He violently confronts Chris and accuses him of sending the mail, but Chris denies it, saying that someone stole his internet password. In saying this, Chris casts more doubts in Matt's mind over whether or not the other interns also know his secret. Matt decides to contact the Federal agents. The FBI questions the interns and Grace, with no success. They remind Matt that they cannot protect him since he left the Federal Witness Program. Matt becomes more overwrought and frantic. Chris begins to feed hints to Ellen Burgess and other hospital staff that Matt is becoming unhinged.

In the meantime, Matt again tries to make overtures to Ellen. She tells him point blank that she admitted her feelings to Matt because she thought he was leaving. She says that now she has no intentions of entering a relationship with Matt. An emotionally crushed Matt resigns himself to Ellen's feelings. Grace attempts to pick up the pieces and tells Matt that she hopes that they can have a close relationship. Matt says that he thinks that they should cool it. Grace tells Matt that he has no future with Ellen, and that they should give their relationship a chance and see where it goes. She says, "who knows - a little salsa - a little rumba ..." Matt answers her with an amused look and uplifted eyebrows.

Matt becomes paranoid over the pressures that have been building concerning his fear of discovery. He confides his fears to Grace over a drink at the Recovery Room. A face appears at the window - it is Bobby Mancusi. Mike Corbin confronts Bobby outside and tells him to leave. Mike enters and joins Matt and Grace. He tells Matt about Bobby Mancusi, and asks Matt to tell him what's going on. Matt reveals more of his story.

When he was 16 years old, he was a bag runner for a Philadelphia mob. One night, he and his partner went to collect from someone, and he found out that the man was marked for murder. His partner pulled a gun and shot the man in cold blood. Matt swore that he would not tell anyone about the murder, but his partner accosted him one night in a dark alley and shot him in the back and left him for dead. The partner who shot the man was Bobby Mancusi. Now, he's discovered where Matt is and he is determined to kill him.

Mike offers to help Matt find a hiding place. Grace insists on going with Matt. With Mike's help they hide in a riverfront warehouse for the night. There is a getaway car ready for them to use in the morning. Matt decides to call Federal Marshal Harris and let him know that Bobby Mancusi is in town. Matt offers to show himself as bait so that the agents can capture Bobby.

We're All Alike

As Matt becomes the central figure in a real action-adventure plot this week, PC's execs explain what's behind this ground-breaking story -- and give a peek at what's ahead


Matt becomes the central figure in an action adventure saga that kicks off this week. Since Chris has alerted the Mancusis to Matt's whereabouts, Matt's life is in real danger. When Chris suggests that Matt may want to leave Port Charles, Matt becomes paranoid, imagining his fellow interns are all plotting against him.

Mike confronts Bobby Mancusi outside the Recovery Room and later questions Matt, who admits his trouble involves the Mancusi family. Mike offers to help Matt hide from Bobby and Grace convinces Matt to let her go with him as Matt sets up a meeting with one of the marshals.

But Bobby kills the marshal before the meeting can take place and discovers the address of the warehouse where Matt and Grace are hiding. Bobby arrives instead, and Matt and Grace hide in the elevator.

By week's end, Matt and Grace narrowly escape from Bobby, as he searches the warehouse. When he turns up nothing, he poses as the marshal and arrives at Ellen's door.

Executive producer Wendy Riche has been commended for creating the character of Matt, who is in a wheelchair. She was recently honored by the Media Access Awards, which recognize positive portrayals of persons with disabilities.

"The exciting thing about Port Charles and what Wendy Riche has done," says Media Access Awards founder Fern Field, "is that here is a man in a wheelchair who is not only an intern, but he aspires to be a surgeon, showing a character with a disability in a nontraditional profession."

Now Riche and writers have even given Matt a storyline that plunges him directly into the line of action. When casting the role, Riche sought an actor in a wheelchair and was thrilled when casting director Mark Teschner found Mitch Longley.

"The first objective was to find a good actor," Riche says. "If it turned out that there wasn't an actor in a wheelchair who could have handled the role, then we would have gone the other way. But we felt strongly we could find an actor who could handle this kind of a role. When Mitch left the room after reading, I was in tears because his performance moved me.

"Matt is a character without limitations," Riche continues. "That doesn't mean that he doesn't have unique abilities that we might perceive as limitations. We approach Matt as we approach any character -- what's the background, what are the complications and what can we draw from. The story that we have come up with comes from his character's background."

When head writer Lynn Latham came aboard, Matt's background was unknown to the audience. She and her co-head writer, Scott Hamner, decided to explain the mystery by revealing that Matt was in the Witness Protection Program.

"When Lynn and I approached this story, we approached it purely from the character's standpoint without limitation," explains Riche. "That doesn't mean he doesn't come up against obstacles, though."

The scene in the warehouse when Bobby surprises Matt and Grace, was initially written with Matt's wheelchair getting stuck in some wire.

"Production-wise, that got complicated, so Mitch said, 'You know what -- let's just have my coat get caught in the spoke of my wheelchair because sometimes my coat dangles and it gets caught, and it's a very natural thing.' We are dealing with the same action we would have with anybody else. A person who is not in a wheelchair might trip and fall."

Riche says the seeds were sown unconsciously for the character of Matt when she was a 9-year-old girl in Flushing, N.Y.

"There were kids in special classes that I was not allowed to play with, talk to or even look at," she explains. "Our conditioning as a society is to not look at that which is different. But the need as human beings is to explore humanity. When I did explore it as a child, I found out that what I was told was false protection and, in fact, destructive to our evolution, when I was blessed with a smile from a child in a wheelchair who was my age. Basically, without words, that smile said, 'We're both alike.' "

A personal experience also allows Latham a greater understanding of the character. "The show I did before this was for Aaron Spelling, and as I was driving to work every day, I passed a billboard for Port Charles. One week, my college roommate was in town. She has multiple sclerosis and uses a motorized cart. She and I were talking about how terrific it was to see a lead character in a chair. I know from my experiences with her that people look at someone in a chair or a cart as alien."

Latham at times confers with Longley regarding his capabilities. "When we needed to have him do CPR earlier in the season, I wanted to know if he could move quickly out of his chair and perform CPR. I called him, and he told me that he could."

"There are many viewers who don't know that Mitch uses a chair in real life," Latham continues. "We get viewer e-mails and comments that say they can't wait for the time that he can walk, or things like, 'Next time you hire an actor to play a paraplegic, don't have him cross is legs. It's so ridiculous.' Everybody who is in a chair has different capabilities, so we call Mitch to ask him what his capabilities are so we can parallel that with Matt."

According to Riche and Latham, there are plans to explore Matt's sexuality down the line. But before that, the adventure will intensify. -- R.F.

From: Soap Opera Magazine, March 17, 1998