Vagabond Players

Tomorrow night after the kiddies trot home with their bulging candy bags, it's playtime for us adults. Not only is it Halloween - it's Friday night. That means double the tricks and treats for the taking - from Halloween-themed concerts to costume contests with cash prizes. You just have to know where to look. Here are some of the best options for Halloween revelry in and around the city. 1 How could Halloween night in Fells Point not be No. 1 on our list?

`Sight Unseen' The lowdown -- Director Barry Feinstein opens his fifth play at the Fell's Point Corner Theatre, this time Donald Margulies' 1992 Obie Award winner Sight Unseen. The play follows artist Jonathan Waxman, suddenly successful and able to sell his work sight unseen. He reaches beyond the glamour of his newfound high life when he visits his former muse and lover, Patricia. Now living with her husband, archaeologist Patricia leads a simple life excavating Roman ruins to discover the truth of the past.

Francis Edward Roddy, a retired federal worker and former Veterans of Foreign Wars post commander who as a baby had a role in a silent film, died of respiratory failure Tuesday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Lutherville man was 89. Mr. Roddy was born and raised in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, where he graduated from high school. He joined the Army during World War II. His military service took him to the Pacific, where he fought until the end of the conflict. He participated in the liberation of the Philippines.

The stars of the Vagabond Players' production of Steel Magnolias had to learn more than just their lines. Because the entire play takes place in a beauty shop, a number of the actresses had to learn how to style hair, too. In contrast to the popular 1989 film, the play is set entirely in a small-town Louisiana beauty shop -- a warm and open environment that provides its patrons an opportunity to let their hair down. Written by Robert Harling and based on the relationship between his mother and late sister, the play chronicles the story of six charming Southern women who support one another through a series of trials and triumphs.

`Suddenly Last Summer' Tennessee Williams' 1957 play, Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Barry Bach, wraps up the season at the Vagabond Players. Set in 1930s New Orleans, the drama focuses on a wealthy widow named Mrs. Venable, who is determined to conceal the circumstances of her son's death, and on the niece whose recollections she'd like to expunge. The Vagabonds' production, which opens tomorrow, stars Binnie Ritchie Holum as Mrs. Venable, Laurel Peyrot as her niece, Catherine, and Mark MacAluso as the doctor Mrs. Venable hopes will erase Catherine's memory.

NOW OR NEVER Recent moderation in temperatures notwithstanding, it's still very much winter, and you can hear a lively reminder of that fact tomorrow when the Chris Norman Ensemble presents selections from its latest CD, In the fields in frost and snow. Norman, the personable virtuoso of the wooden flute (he was featured on the soundtrack to Titanic), will be joined by other players of traditional instruments in this wintry celebration that features music of maritime Canada -- colorful carols, folk songs and dances with French, English, Scottish and Irish roots.

Brimming with sex, violence and substance abuse, Andrew Lippa's musical adaptation of Joseph Moncure March's 1920s narrative poem The Wild Party is pretty racy fare for relatively sedate Theatre Hopkins. But Todd Pearthree's direction, choreography and casting imbue The Wild Party with a style that elevates the material above its seamy foundation, without falsely prettifying it. Just watch the ensemble slither across the stage in tightly choreographed unison, displaying a movement vocabulary that can change in a moment from celebratory to predatory.