Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? If you haven’t yet crumpled up a map in frustration after driving past the same Joshua tree for the third time, get ready to burn rubber on the open road as we barrel toward our 34th Master Mystery Production, the zaniest family road trip we’ve ever concocted. Break out your socks and sandals, your sunscreen, and your shades because this vacation is going to slay. We invite you all to take a trip to our…

TOURIST TRAP

The Morgensterns are lost. Lost in the desert with their packed VW van. Not exactly where you want to be while on your vacation to Death Valley. This family of five have come to a local bookstore to find “a less defective map,” but are soon beleaguered by car trouble that strands them there. But while trying to negotiate the fog of Yellow Page listings for a mechanic, crazy concerns are raised about “a special bit of luggage” they brought with them. Trying to move this special package around the store to avoid unwanted eyes proves to be a hilarious Herculean effort that might pop the seams of the façades our socked-and-sandalled family have put on. Just who are these bickering, laughable tourists? What really lies beneath the souvenir shades and loud Hawaiian prints? The Morgensterns don’t want anyone sticking their sunscreened noses into their business, and they aren’t afraid to resort to their own kind of tourist trap to keep their secrets safe. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of President Herbert Hoover officially declaring Death Valley a National Monument in 1933, Tourist Trap is a madcap road trip mystery where you get to try and uncover the answer of what the Morgensterns really got as a souvenir for this vacation.

We reunite once again with Ridge Writers for our 8th Weird Weekend production and our 12th collaboration overall with Ridge Writers–the East Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club. For inspiration, writer/director Daniel Stallings pulled from the tourism in Death Valley, local landmarks, mineral history, and memories of family vacations. Tourist Trap stars MMP’s first nuclear family characters–a mom, a dad, two kids, and the weird aunt. We’ve explored family in many different shades at MMP–unconventional, found, and once a whole team of cousins–but this the first one with a central nuclear family as the focus. Daniel wanted to create the sort of hilarious tourists you wouldn’t want to get too close to when they barge into your stores. The show also reimagines a popular mechanic from Hello Out There, our first Weird Weekend show, in that audiences will get a chance to search through the suspect’s carefully curated luggage for clues. Within their suitcases, you’ll find clothing, products, and a few secret stashes to help you solve the mystery of the Mogensterns’ missing “luggage.”

The cast is a dynamic and sparkling arrangement of experienced veterans and bright, new voices. Rehearsals have been laugh riots at everything from a kid’s sarcastic remark to the antics of disappearing and reappearing luggage. This cast is so convincing as a family when they squabble about missed turns, swap shade and secret negotiations, and make sarcasm their official language that you might forget that they aren’t related at all. It’s a truly wonderful ensemble piece.

Tourist Trap, an interactive road trip mystery, performs August 18 and 19, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Red Rock Books (206 W. Ridgecrest Blvd.). Tickets are $20 general admission and $15 for current members of the California Writers Club. Tickets are on sale right now at Red Rock Books. If you purchase a seat for the show, that also counts as your admission into the Weird Weekend daytime activities from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. for the date you are going to see the show. Doors open at 7 p.m.

We can’t wait for you to join our road trip! See you at the show!

–Master Mystery Productions