Our friend Terri moved out to the hippy-dippy community of Greenbelt recently and invited us out there to partake of an amateur produciton of Ira Levin's Deathtrap. While Jill had seen the movie with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, she couldn't remember anything other than a surprising kiss, I had never seen the movie or the play. I had, however, seen both Levin's The Boys from Brazil and The Stepford Wives, so I could extrapolate a number of surprises to be had.

The Greenbelt community theater was a small affair, the stage in a converted bowling alley (no traces left of the alley itself, however). The actors were decent, if a little awkward in their positioning, and the special effects/lighting part of the production was well done. The audience was tiny--only about 15 people in all, but that didn't stop the actors from doing their best.

The story itself is self-referential and clever, two things that I enjoy in most any medium, and I did enjoy the play, if not necessarily the production itself. It's not that it was bad per se, but as a failed actor (okay, not failed, but frustrated in the sense that I can't take the time to perform anymore), I saw plenty that could have been improved. The material itself is nearly timeless, although I sensed a couple of modern improvements on the text.

I enjoyed myself, and what more can you ask of $10 on a Friday night? Afterwards, we hit the cooperative cafe across the way and listened to a couple of baby boomers called The Gliders do decent covers of Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Raitt. A surprisingly bohemian night just outside the Beltway.