In between navigating the terrifying landscape that is Charlie Victor Romeo, actor Patrick Daniels was kind enough to field a few of our questions. Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It's FAA regulations, after all.
Q:
The Charlie Victor Romeo road has been a long and winding one. How much time was there between your first production and this current one running at 3LD and how has that changed your perception of the project and/or your performance? Also, you’ve toured the show in the intervening years. Has the show morphed with each new venue?
A:
CVR opened in October 1999, so it has been a long 13 years. Over the years, we have recast the show and in the various iterations I have played a good number of the parts. In recasting, we have to re-address what exactly the show is which helps keep it fresh for us, and as we continue to work on the material, it exposes itself as more detailed and complex than we ever thought. In 2004 at PS 122, for instance, we made some changes to one of the scenes, whith the idea that we will always make any alteration that will bring us closer to forensic accuracy. playing the show on tour demands technical flexibility a well as performance flexibility, as both the audioscape and the performances are intimately affected by each different venue.
Q:
When this show first opened, I remember being stunned by the approach. It was so fresh, so simple, and clearly so powerful. Can you share a little bit about the genesis of the idea, how the work started and how you all began to piece together a night of theatre?
A:
My partners Bob Berger and Irving Gregory were walking in NYC "discoursing" (arguing) about mellinealism and reality television, and during the conversation, ended up in a bookstore. They ended up using various books to score points in the discussion: "The San Quentin Guide to Knife Fighting" a coffee table book of photos of surgical procedures, and a book of transcripts from Black Box recordings. This one in particular interested both of them with it's potential for a script, and as they returned to our Space (Collective:Unconscious) they came up with the basic production details for a show. They found me and i saw immediately that their idea was good. we read transcripts, researched aviation, and cast a show based on six of the transcripts we found. these were chosen based on their dramatic effect, their importance in aviation, and also the way they fit together. productions at C:U needed to be short (we did multiple different shows in any given night) so the time constraint was a consideration as well.
Q:
Working from research is such a specific way of creating theatre. Talk a bit about how the unique demands of this approach have changed you as an actor.
A:
Working this way has made me a far better performer. Research brings discipline, and to perform night after night, on the road, while sick or tired or both, for next to no money demands discipline. Transcriptural material also lends itself to a performer's commitment to the reality of the show. It helps immensely to know for certain that the words one speaks are actual human dialogue spoken in the heat of crisis.
Q:
You recently completed principal photography on a filmed version of C-V-R. Can you update readers on the status of that project and how it will differ from the live experience of the show?
A:
The Charlie Victor Romeo Film Project is in post-production now, with a goal of a finished product sometime in December 2012. The idea behind this production is to attempt to bring the immersiveness of the live show to the cinema. We have two technical bonuses with the film that will serve this effort: we shot in Stereoscopic 3D, and we have the most epic sound design imaginable! both of these things will back up ther performances, and bring the film audience right in to the action with the performers. The effect of the 3D tech is allowing everyone in the movie theater to sit in the best seat in the house, and the audioscape will surround and envelop, bringing experience in a more emotional, intuitive, and multiconscious way.
Q:
There’s an immediacy to this material that makes the audience part of the show. I think it has something to do with the use of silence and the anxiety that we share in the house as the show progresses. How was it introducing cameras into the mix on your recent days of shooting at 3LD?
A:
The introduction of cameras was... interesting. Our audiences for the shooting days were invited and they knew what they were in for, and as well, a good number of them are artists working in various media, which allows them flexiblity as audience members. From my point of view as a performer, the challenge was maintaining the intensity neccessary to do the material justice, and it seems that we all were very succesful at that! The rough footage I have seen so far is beautiful to look at and should serve our purposes very well.
CVR opened in October 1999, so it has been a long 13 years. Over the years, we have recast the show and in the various iterations I have played a good number of the parts. In recasting, we have to re-address what exactly the show is which helps keep it fresh for us, and as we continue to work on the material, it exposes itself as more detailed and complex than we ever thought. In 2004 at PS 122, for instance, we made some changes to one of the scenes, whith the idea that we will always make any alteration that will bring us closer to forensic accuracy. playing the show on tour demands technical flexibility a well as performance flexibility, as both the audioscape and the performances are intimately affected by each different venue.
Q:
When this show first opened, I remember being stunned by the approach. It was so fresh, so simple, and clearly so powerful. Can you share a little bit about the genesis of the idea, how the work started and how you all began to piece together a night of theatre?
My partners Bob Berger and Irving Gregory were walking in NYC "discoursing" (arguing) about mellinealism and reality television, and during the conversation, ended up in a bookstore. They ended up using various books to score points in the discussion: "The San Quentin Guide to Knife Fighting" a coffee table book of photos of surgical procedures, and a book of transcripts from Black Box recordings. This one in particular interested both of them with it's potential for a script, and as they returned to our Space (Collective:Unconscious) they came up with the basic production details for a show. They found me and i saw immediately that their idea was good. we read transcripts, researched aviation, and cast a show based on six of the transcripts we found. these were chosen based on their dramatic effect, their importance in aviation, and also the way they fit together. productions at C:U needed to be short (we did multiple different shows in any given night) so the time constraint was a consideration as well.
Q:
Working from research is such a specific way of creating theatre. Talk a bit about how the unique demands of this approach have changed you as an actor.
A:
Working this way has made me a far better performer. Research brings discipline, and to perform night after night, on the road, while sick or tired or both, for next to no money demands discipline. Transcriptural material also lends itself to a performer's commitment to the reality of the show. It helps immensely to know for certain that the words one speaks are actual human dialogue spoken in the heat of crisis.
Q:
You recently completed principal photography on a filmed version of C-V-R. Can you update readers on the status of that project and how it will differ from the live experience of the show?
A:
The Charlie Victor Romeo Film Project is in post-production now, with a goal of a finished product sometime in December 2012. The idea behind this production is to attempt to bring the immersiveness of the live show to the cinema. We have two technical bonuses with the film that will serve this effort: we shot in Stereoscopic 3D, and we have the most epic sound design imaginable! both of these things will back up ther performances, and bring the film audience right in to the action with the performers. The effect of the 3D tech is allowing everyone in the movie theater to sit in the best seat in the house, and the audioscape will surround and envelop, bringing experience in a more emotional, intuitive, and multiconscious way.
Q:
There’s an immediacy to this material that makes the audience part of the show. I think it has something to do with the use of silence and the anxiety that we share in the house as the show progresses. How was it introducing cameras into the mix on your recent days of shooting at 3LD?
A:
The introduction of cameras was... interesting. Our audiences for the shooting days were invited and they knew what they were in for, and as well, a good number of them are artists working in various media, which allows them flexiblity as audience members. From my point of view as a performer, the challenge was maintaining the intensity neccessary to do the material justice, and it seems that we all were very succesful at that! The rough footage I have seen so far is beautiful to look at and should serve our purposes very well.
Charlie Victor Romeo continues through October 20 at 3LD. For more info visit the CVR site.
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