Flying V's Crystal Creek Motel [SPOILERS]

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I had seen a Flying V production years ago when a friend of a friend was performing at the Writer's Center in Bethesda. I remembered that their shows are really creative and original works, so that's pretty cool. When I saw that they had a show at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, I figured that's close to me, and I've never been to that venue before. I didn't know much about the play, but I thought I'd take a gamble and buy two tickets, without even having a date in mind.

I did end up finding someone to go with, and I'm glad he was up for the random adventure. The main idea behind this play is that you're looking in on a motel room as different guests stay there throughout the year. When we first got to the box office, we were given room keys to the motel (the guy even said, "Have a nice stay"), so that was really cool and interactive. I wish that had continued into the lobby as we were waiting for doors to open. Once we could go into the theater, we handed in our room keys, and we settled in for the show.

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The show was broken up into two acts with six scenes each, representing every month of the year. Through the context of the music played as well as images projected onto the motel room's walls, I figured out that the year is supposed to be 2003. So you see pictures of George Bush and different news headlines, and the songs were reminiscent of my freshman year of high school (think Jewel's Intuition, the Dixie Chicks' Landslide, and Trapt's Headstrong). The technology the characters use is also older, like a Walkman and flip phones. I thought the team did a great job of making the audience feel like we really were back in time.

There were several directors for the scenes, so each director handled a couple of the "months" for the scenes. And in between each scene, a cleaning crew (played by Julieta Gonzalo and Erin Denman) would come into the room and straighten things up. Although they didn't have a lot of time on stage, it was cool to see them transform and change over time throughout the year.

I don't want to give too much away (since you should totally see the show for yourself!), but here are the synopses of each scene:

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January: Natalie Cutcher plays a woman on a business trip who clearly hates her job and her boss. She seems to go into a panic attack, but listening to music and losing herself inside the depressing songs seem to calm her down. There is a lighter part of the scene when she's dancing and someone outside the window sees her, and they both start dancing. I was glad there was a little bit of fun in the heavy scene.

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February: Quincy Vicks' character has paid a man (played by James Finley) to role play with him as WWE wrestlers. They play fight with each other, and at the end hold each other in their arms. Sometimes you just need an outlet, and this was theirs.

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March: This is probably one of the saddest parts of the play. Madeline Key plays an androgynous young woman who is addicted to cocaine. She spends the entire night snorting it, ignoring phone calls from her family members as they leave messages wondering where she is. We never learn what she's trying to escape from or why, but it was hard to watch a junkie going down a path of despair.

April: I really liked this scene! A woman (Momo Nakamura) is meeting a man at the motel for their anniversary. She gets there first, and while she waits, she daydreams about when they were younger. Linda Bard as the woman's younger self and Quincy Vicks as her lover as a young man magically appear from beneath the bed, and they start dancing around the room with each other (very ballet-inspired). The grown woman begins to dance with them as well, remembering the love and romance she shared with the man back then. But the memories upset her, and she calls the man telling him not to come, just as he knocks on the door. Then everything went black. So we didn't get to see how it ended!

May: This part was two scenes in one. Natalie Cutcher as a stewardess only has a short layover to fit in a quicky with James Finley's character. They fool around, he goes down on her, and then she rushes out of the room. Then they break the fourth wall, asking for a re-do on the scene. The second time around, they are more romantic with each other and end up just holding each other in bed before she has to leave; she comes back to give him her phone number so they can meet up another time. I think the characters (and the audience!) were more satisfied with the second go-around.

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June: This scene is almost entirely in Spanish. I was wondering why the program had a random folktale about a coyote printed in it, but that was the translation of the story. Thank goodness I read it ahead of time so I actually knew what was going on! A woman and a young girl have been kidnapped by a man, and the girl is very scared. So the woman starts telling her this story about the coyote running as fast as he can to escape evil. The story is simply a poetic way of telling her: RUN!

July: Quincy Vicks' character wants to draw graffiti on the walls, and then many other people emerge from inside the room (the armoire, the paintings on the wall, behind the curtains) seeming to egg him on. We never know who these people are: are they spirits, or maybe characters he has drawn? In the end he does draw something on the wall...I'm sure you can guess what it is.

August: I've never seen American Psycho before, but my date said he thought this scene was inspired by the movie. Paz Lopez' character Patty is planning to murder her friend at the motel, and she tricks her friend (played by Linda Bard) into coming over for milk shakes and apple pie with french fries. And then she does the deed, leaving the bathroom a bloody mess for the cleaning crew the next day.

September: Four cousins (played by James Finley, Jordan Clark Halsey, Madeline Key, and Momo Nakamura) all come to the motel room after receiving letters from their grandmother saying their inheritance could be found there. At first they fight over the money they might find, but in the end they realize that they're all there to have stronger relationships with each other.

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October: Linda Bard and Madeline Key play a lesbian couple, and one of them just outed the other in front of her family. They have a discussion about where their relationship stands and such, and in the end they romantically decide to run away to Canada to get married. Although random, my favorite part was when Bard started to play the cello. She can act, dance, and play the cello?!

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November: James Finley is mourning the loss of  his brother (I assume that's who it was) after the funeral. His brother's spirit (played by Jordan Clark Halsey) comes into the room and they dance together. It was touching but sad.

December: This is a New Year's Eve celebration including the entire cast. Everyone is having a good time, but one girl had planned to kill herself that night. She left a note for the cleaning crew telling them that they essentially saved her life; she didn't want to leave them with the horrible experience of finding her dead body. So while this is dark, it is a happy ending...?

I REALLY enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it. Very unique, one of a kind for sure! Purchase tickets here.

Here are some other reviews if you're interested:
DC Metro Theater Arts
The Sentinel
Washington City Paper
DC Theatre Scene