Finding comedy in terrorism

There's obviously nothing funny about terrorism, but the Laguna Playhouse is about to mine some humor from its possibilities.

Next weekend, the playhouse opens its fifth production of the season, "The Sleeper," Catherine Butterfield's darkly comic play focusing on a suburban housewife's cloak and dagger activities.

Butterfield's central character, adjusting to the new post-9/11 reality, finds herself irresistibly drawn to her son's tutor -- a handsome young man with different political leanings than her own. She gradually suspects he could be linked to terrorist activities.

"She bravely sets off on a hair-raising mission to get to the bottom of it, with surprising results," says the theater's artistic director, Andrew Barnicle, who will stage "The Sleeper."