Greg Howell knows his performance starting this week at Manoa Valley Theatre will be under a microscope.

Does he move his hands too much? Should he be able to talk at this point? Is he reflecting the painful yet inspiring death that can occur when somebody succumbs to debilitating disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

ALS is the disease that claimed the life of renowned Hawai'i artist Peggy Chun last year. Also called Lou Gehrig's disease, it traps a healthy mind in a body slowly robbed of ability to make even the slightest motion, eventually even breathing. After Chun was stricken with the disease in 2002, she continued to paint long after she lost the use of her limbs, first by putting a brush in her mouth and near the end when she died last November, through her eye movements.

Fans and friends who know Chun's story will see a lot of her characteristics in Morrie Schwartz, whom Howell plays in "Tuesdays with Morrie," opening Wednesday and running through April 5 at Manoa Valley Theatre.

The production is based on the best-selling memoir by Mitch Albom and adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher.

That his performance will be under heavy scrutiny is one of the reasons the role appealed to Howell. He met Chun when he was an artist on Maui in the 1980s, and some of his friends cared for Chun after she became debilitated. Last weekend, Howell met with some of Chun's caretakers and the Muscular Dystrophy Association's ALS division to make sure he was getting his performance right.

"Peggy was always a charming lady," Howell said. "Morrie Schwartz was a lot like her. The play starts by showing how vibrant this guy was, and how much he embraced life. The way Mitch Albom told this story and how they adapted a book that could be read in a two-hour plane ride is incredible. I go from dancing to a walker, then a wheelchair to a chaise lounge, and in the last scene I'm bedridden. The only movement I can do is with my fingers that are on my chest. It's not easy to show on stage.

"What I think people will see is how ALS is such a terrible disease, and something needs to be done. When you're hit with this, your mind is so alive, but it is inside of a body that just dies. The body becomes a prison. What people will also take from this is how inspirational Morrie was in death, just like Peggy. Morrie never lost his love for life and kept teaching life lessons until the end. By the time you walk out of the theater you're going to want to get on the phone and call everyone you care for and tell them you love them. It's very powerful."

One difference between Schwartz's death and Chun's is the time line. While Chun was first diagnosed in 2002 and died six years later, Schwartz's battle lasted just nine months because he also had asthma.

Regardless, it's a gripping tale that will make you laugh and probably cry.

Scott Robertson plays the role of Albom, a brash and talented sports journalist who reunited with Morrie 16 years after he last took his college class. It's based on a true story told by Albom, named the top sports writer in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors for 10 consecutive years. It was Schwartz who told Albom in college to follow his heart and ambitions instead of becoming a lawyer or doctor as his parents wanted. At the time, Albom was a gifted musician, too. Albom lost touch with Schwartz until he stumbled upon a "Nightline" report by Ted Koppel while he was on the road in a hotel 16 years later. Koppel was telling the story of a college professor who knew he was dying a slow death, but refused to give up teaching and embraced life. Albom was stunned to see it was his former mentor, but it prompted him to make a call — one that Howell says initially didn't go well.

"Morrie gave it to Mitch," Howell said. "He was asking if he had any kind of life because all it seemed like he did was work. It took Mitch a few weeks to come back, and the next time they met. he agreed to basically be Morrie's secretary, recording all his life lessons every week. No matter where Mitch was in the country he made it a point to fly home every Tuesday and meet with Morrie. It's really an uplifting tale."

In the book's foreword, Albom writes of being the only student in one last class taught by Schwartz. Instead of a graduation, there was a funeral.

Published in 1997, the novel was on The New York Times best-seller list for more than four years and later became one of the best-selling memoirs of all time, with approximately 14 million copies sold. It was made into an Emmy-winning television drama, presented by Oprah Winfrey and starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria.