The Guthrie Theater has announced that it will bring the unique theatrical experience of Charlie Victor Romeo to Minneapolis-St. Paul audiences for nine performances beginning May 17.
Charlie Victor Romeo, which is the code name for cockpit voice recorder, is a live performance documentary derived entirely from the "Black Box" transcripts of six major real-life airline emergencies. A live techno-thriller where the audience becomes observers to the tension-filled cockpit of real in-flight emergencies, "CVR" is a portrait of the psychology of crisis and a testimony to professionals who perform under intense pressure.
"CVR" opened in the fall of 1999 at the Collective Unconscious Theater in New York and later was awarded the 2000 Drama Desk Awards for Best Unique Theatrical experience and Outstanding Sound Design, as well as the 2000 New York International Fringe Festival Awards for Overall Excellence in Drama and Outstanding Sound Design.
The production has been embraced by both the aviation and the medical communities for its truthfulness and dedication to its non-sensational approach. "CVR" has been filmed by the US Air Force as a training video for pilots and has become required attendance for West Point cadets enrolled in courses studying engineering psychology and human error.
In the medical community, "CVR" has been performed for groups of physicians and healthcare professionals studying the effects of human error and emergencies in a medical context, dramatizing how errors can happen when communication or systems fail. Prior to opening at the Guthrie Lab, "CVR" will be performed on Wednesday, May 16 for attendees of a St. Paul conference on communicating risk and safety in the health care industry, hosted by the National Patient Safety Foundation.
Tickets to Charlie Victor
Romeo at the Guthrie Lab are $28-$30 and may be purchased by calling 612-377-2224.
04/13/01
EGG is a new television
series about people making art across America. Topical, funny, entertaining,
provocative -- EGG is unlike any arts program you've seen before. Whether it's
exploring the work an artist whose "canvas" is an Arizona crater,
or climbing the hillside with a bonsai master, EGG brings art to life. EGG's
cast of characters features world famous artists such as Jeff Koons, Damien
Hirst, August Wilson, and Ani DiFranco -- as well as yodelers, experimental
filmmakers, and whirligig sculptors. Whether it's high or low, homegrown or
classical, EGG celebrates art's power to move us, inspire us, and to challenge
our perspective on who or what we are.
Episode 3: Flight
Imagine if humans could fly. There'd be no more road rage. We'd all have a flight
suit in our closet. Bird's-eye views wouldn't be just for the birds. Humans
can't fly, but we've been fascinated by flight ever since God didn't give us
wings. EGG takes off.
Charlie Victor Romeo Segment
Is real life the stuff of drama? New York City's
independent theater troupe, Collective Unconscious, recreates the events preceding
an airplane crash using excerpts from actual cockpit voice recorders.
Once the situation turns critical, the tension
pulsing beneath the adapted dialog in "Charlie Victor Romeo" reveals
how these pilots and crews are forced to react in the face of extraordinary
crisis. The effect? Audiences leave shaken and in tears, but somehow elated
by what amounts to a celebration of the human spirit.
02/24/2001
Major General Walter E.
Buchanan III
HQ USAF/XOO
1480 AF Pentagon
Washington, DC
Mr. Robert Berger
Mr. Partick Daniels
Mr. Irving Gregory
145 Ludlow Street
New York, NY 10002
Dear Sirs,
As
the Air Force Director of Operations and Training, I would like to extend my
gratitude to you and your theater company for allowing the US Air Force to record
your production of "Charlie Victor Romeo" and use it in our aircrew
training programs. I understand your play began as a school project and was
never intended to leave the small stage. You may be interested to know that
your play is currently being provided to our flight crews by the Air Education
and Training Command. In fact, Air Mobility Command is basing their annual Crew
Resource Management training on your depiction of the ill-fated United and AeroPeru
flights as a comparison of good and bad crew decision making. The US Navy has
also requested and been provided a copy of the play for their use.
Once again, thank you for your support of our
training and good luck with your future endeavors.
Your efforts are being used to help us train a more professional and safe air crew force.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Walter E. Buchanan III,
Maj Gen, USAF
Director of Operations and Training
DCS, Air and Space Operations
$100,000 in Grants Awarded to two New York-based Entrepreneurs
NEW YORK-February 2, 2001-
Today, ABSOLUT VODKA announced the two
grand-prize winners of ABSOLUT ANGEL, an innovative business plan
competition that recognizes and rewards creative concepts that best use
technology to advance the arts. In a day and age where the need for funding
for entrepreneur's creativity has increased but the supply of money has
decreased, two entrepreneurs from New York City were able to recieve funding
from this unlikely benefactor. The winners, Charlie Victor Romeo, a hit
off-broadway play that could save lives will now expand to the Internet, and
the Electronic Arts Intermix, which will revamp their website that
catalogues and distributes video art, both walked away with $50,000 grants.
Four national finalists gathered in New York City to present their projects
to the judging panel, which consisted of technology, arts, and venture
capital industry leaders. Two winners left with grants of $50,000 each
after amazing the juding panel with their presentations.
The two winners, Lori Zippay, of Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, NY; and
Justin Davila and Robert Berger, Charlie Victor Romeo, New York, NY,
competed in the final judging event and were chosen from among the four
finalists to receive the ABSOLUT ANGEL grants.
"ABSOLUT ANGEL shows
our continued dedication to supporting emerging artists
and the advancement of the arts," said Jim Schleifer, Marketing Director,
Seagram Americas. "The digital age is providing today's artists with new
outlets for creative expression, and we wish to support those who have
developed business plans to continue their contribution to society."
Entries were judged on the following criteria: how well the concept raises
the public interest in the arts, its uniqueness as a concept merging art and
technology, the plan's financial sustainability, and its overall creativity.
The two winners were announced at an awards ceremony and reception hosted by
Miles Spencer, Co-founder, MoneyHunt Properties, Inc. and Co-host and
creator of the Emmy Award-winning PBS program, "Money Hunt."
THE WINNERS
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a non-profit media arts
organization which acts as a major resource for artists' videos and new
media projects. A leading international distributor of alternative media,
EAI distributes 3,000 new and historical works by artists to educational,
arts and cultural markets around the world. EAI's program includes a
national video preservation initiative, an editing workspace for artists,
screening events, and access to their video archive.
Expanding on the themes that have guided EAI's mission through three
decades, the company will foster a unique merger of art and technology,
wherein the technology is not simply a vehicle, but also a mode of creative
expression.
Charlie Victor Romeo (www.charlievictorromeo.com), is a dramatic
work for the stage derived entirely from the "black box" cockpit voice
recorder transcripts of six major airline emergencies. Via a theatrical
documentary where the audience observes the tension-filled cockpit of real
in-flight emergencies, they learn what is really going on behind the closed
door in the front of the airplane.
Charlie Victor Romeo uniquely benefits both the arts and the
technology sciences as it offers a powerful human perspective of emergency
situations as a theatrical performance, and because of the grant, it will become
a web-based learning tool for aviation professionals.
ABSOLUT ANGEL, in its second
year, recognizes that the need for
entrepreneurs to find funding for their creativity has
not decreased, but
the supply of money has, therefore a shift has began in how entrepreneurs
find additional supplies of financing. At the same time, this digital age
is providing today's artists with new outlets for creative expression, and
digital art has attracted many new artists and inspired many new projects.
Because art is so subjective to begin with, and because anything "new"
and
"digital" can create hesitancy among investors, there is an increasing
need
for these emerging artists to find funding for their digital projects.
Therefore, ABSOLUT ANGEL is a program that responds to the need for emerging
artists to find funding for their new ideas that benefit worthy causes.
THE REVIEW BOARD
ABSOLUT had assembled a judging panel of new media visionaries, venture
capitalists, arts representatives, and leading entrepreneurs to judge the
business plans and to offer advice to the finalists at the judging event
yesterday. This year's review board included Jerry Colonna, Co-Founder and
Managing Partner, Flatiron Partners; Alice O'Rourke, Executive Director of
the New York New Media Association (NYNMA); Carl Goodman, Curator, American
Museum of Moving Image; Robert Levitan, Co-founder and CEO, Flooz.com, the
world's first online gift currency; Omar Wasow, Executive Director,
BlackPlanet.com, and Miles Spencer, Co-founder, MoneyHunt Properties, Inc
and Co-host and creator of the Emmy Award-winning PBS program, "Money Hunt."
Seagram Americas is the sole U.S. importer, distributor and marketer of
ABSOLUT VODKA. The Absolut Company is the brandowner and producer of
ABSOLUT VODKA, ABSOLUT CITRON, ABSOLUT KURANT, ABSOLUT PEPPAR and ABSOLUT
MANDRIN. ABSOLUT is one of the top ten international distilled spirits in
the world and is marketed in more than 125 countries. ABSOLUT VODKA is made
at the distilleries in Åhus, Sweden.
Please call Alyssa Garnick
or Melissa Yoblon to schedule interviews with the
winners, the review board members or with an ABSOLUT VODKA executive.