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Today's news? Not really.
At once a satiric look at history and a send-up of all those office meetings where the overhead projectors don't work, the markers have run dry, and a ringing telephone is as likely as not to introduce someone calling a wrong number, ''Castro's Beard'' has also suddenly become a cautionary tale about the planning, execution and repercussions of government responses to foreign provocation.
Lest anyone think that some of the proposed responses -- an exploding cigar, a poisonous snake sent through the mail, destruction by means of poison of the famous Castro beard -- defy credibility, a playwright's program note declares these plots to be true, and the program also carries an extensive bibliography and a list of pertinent Web sites.
In ''Castro's Beard,'' a two-act Deptford Players production running through Oct. 14 at the New 42nd Street Theater, four men are gathered in a meeting room at the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. The discussion leader is Ted Torphy (H. Clark Kee), a founder of the C.I.A. with a World War II background in its predecessor agency, the Office of Strategic Services.
Also present is the physically imposing Bill Brawner (Jeff Berry), whose past, in addition to civilian police work and Army intelligence service, includes destabilizing governments in Iran and Guatemala for the C.I.A. The scholarly looking Tom Madison (Christopher D. Roberts), with his stooped posture, pocket protector and array of writing implements, is a Yale- and M.I.T.-trained scientist with a background in sabotage and a penchant for poisons. The newcomer to the group, a Harvard-trained lawyer comfortable with chemistry, is Paul Drake (David Hutson).
None of the participants speak Spanish. All become aware of plans to mount what eventually became the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. But the immediate question is what to do about Castro. ''Let your imaginations roam freely,'' Torphy tells the meeting. Don't be afraid to be laughed at, he says.
The choices boil down to assassination of the dictator or destabilization of his regime, with Brawner, a right-wing man of action, opting for a quick kill when Castro, already en route to New York, arrives at the Shelburne Hotel in about 45 minutes. Brawner has already arranged for his contacts in the mob to shoot and kill Castro for $150,000, and all he needs is presidential permission.
''Take him out before Communism spreads through Latin America,'' Brawner says. ''Castro is a threat to the United States and all we stand for.''
Others propose additional forms of assassination, like poison in his socks, the snake, the cigar or an exploding seashell; but every proposal carries risks of failure and risks of exposure. By the end of Act I only the shooting seems feasible, and Brawner has persuaded Torphy to call the president.
Much of the second act, which seems to tread water before revealing the outcome of the plan to shoot Castro, rehashes the cold war domestic politics of the 1950's, including some of the destructive effects of the relentless hunt for Communists in all walks of life.
''To unite a nation, you've got to have a common enemy,'' Madison observes.
This discussion eventually heightens tensions between the liberal Drake and the right-wing Brawner, before the resumption of discussions about responses to Castro, including the downing of planes with innocent Americans aboard or the engineering of a Second Coming of JesusChrist, launched from a submarine and equipped with a motorized crucifix to enable the impersonator to appear to walk on water before landing in Cuba to undermine Castro.
Directed by Lorree True, ''Castro's Beard'' is neatly acted, with an impressive performance by Mr. Berry in the most flamboyant role in a play that has become unexpectedly timely and thought-provoking.
This is yesteryear's history, which furnishes the plot of ''Castro's Beard,'' a mordant, irreverent comedy by the British playwright Brian Stewart about the efforts of the Central Intelligence Agency to deal with Fidel Castro on the eve of his visit to New York for a United Nations meeting in September 1960, just before the Kennedy-Nixon presidential election.
CASTRO'S BEARD
By Brian Stewart; directed by Lorree True; production design by Jeff Berry and Michelle Zielinski; stage manager, Judith Scher; costumes by Ms. True; assistant stage manager, Erik Kever Ryle; production manager, Loraine Stobbe. Presented by the Deptford Players Inc. At the New 42nd Street Theater, 348 West 42nd Street, Clinton.
WITH: H. Clark Kee (Ted Torphy), Jeff Berry (Bill Brawner), Christopher D. Roberts (Tom Madison) and David Hutson (Paul Drake).