Web MasterThe first show of the Ovations! 2001-2002 series is a play of sorts called Charlie Victor Romeo, and it opens, in blazing glory, this weekend. The play is about plane crashes-real plane crashes. And it’s not so much a play as a graphic re-enactment.
Performers in Charlie Victor Romeo take transcripts of cockpit voice recordings (or CVRs, hence the title) of six actual incidents of mid-air crises-which altogether resulted in some 793 deaths-and act them out in all their painful, prolonged physical and psychological apprehension. The play has won multiple dramatic awards and is required viewing for West Point cadets studying engineering and human error.
In the wake of the 9/11 events, airplanes are scarier than nuclear bombs for some of us. I, like many, watched TV for eight or nine hours that Tuesday and since then, every time I hear an airplane thrusting by overhead, I’m tempted to look out my window to make sure it’s careening along okay. Every time I see the silver sliver of a plane aloft, I take an extra second-just to make sure.
I don’t fly much. I’m not frightened of flying; I just haven’t had occasion to fly frequently. And when I have flown, I’ve certainly thought about it: the dry air, the dehydration, a sharp turn of turbulence, and all of a sudden. What would you do? What could you do?
Often times on a plane, you’re alone or you don’t know the folks around you, you feel cramped and gross and tired. These are not moments you want to be the very last in your life. These are moments in transit. They aren’t quite real. But these are moments that have gone through many of our minds in these past weeks as we’ve attempted to resume some normalcy, as we’ve taken that necessary first flight following the incident.
Charlie Robin and the team over at Edison Theatre deserve an ovation of their own for going on with the show. Charlie Victor Romeo may be, unfortunately, a little too timely, but it is also important. It gives us a glimpse into something we all fear. It educates and explains. And most of all, it carries on. We need this.
-Peter Hanrahan