Sleeping with the Enemy. Maybe.

Sensitive problems are sometimes best digested with laughter. Humor opens eyes and eases tensions, while heavy-handed moralizing, on the other hand, closes hearts. Especially in this age of paranoia, Americans could use some laughs at their own expense and at subjects considered too serious for chuckles. Christopher Durang’s Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them aims its provocative satire at the current American psyche, which sees color-coded terror levels as par for the course and torture as a primary means of interrogation to keep the homeland secure. However, all this homeland security comes at the cost of, well, homeland security, as conveyed through the hilarious, though at times unsettling, delusions of the play’s protagonist, Felicity.

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• Christopher Durang

Torture begins in a hotel room where Felicity wakes up to find she is married. This marks the beginning of paranoia and crisis: Is her new husband (who is Irish) a drunk, or a terrorist? Is her father’s butterfly-collecting hobby a cover for his involvement in a secret government plot? Follow Felicity through a wild, crazy set of events with a quirky cast of characters that includes a pornography-making minister; a gun-toting, squirrel-incinerating father; and a woman with underwear mishaps. Torture opens Thursday at the Mosaic Theater (12200 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation) and runs through December 13. Showtime is 8 p.m., and tickets costs $37. Visit mosaictheatre.com, or call 954-577-8243.
Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Nov. 19. Continues through Dec. 13, 2009