Things to Do in Lanham

It was supposed to be a utopia. When Professor Angelica D. Ream painstakingly planned her Dream City, she failed to anticipate the demonic intentions of her own family, who twisted the peaceful community into Scream City, a hellscape terrorized by werewolves, bill collectors, and other evil beasts summoned from the underworld. Snaking throughout Scream City is the Trail of Terror, which reaches deep into a haunted forest where a power-hungry werewolf notoriously slaughtered a Dream City farmer. The path is known to shape-shift from year to year, keeping even regular travelers on their curled toes.

Elsewhere, Hades’s Hayride creeps through cornfields menaced by packs of brutish monsters and, allegedly, the most fear-inducing demon ever spawned. Towering over the grounds is Lusion Manor, where Professor Ream concocted Dream City and her evil family now plots their continued reign. Entrants wander each room of the house—including an attic rumored to imprison many of the villagers—which was just expanded to five times the size of the original structure to stave off noise complaints filed against howling werewolves.

Once wanderers have been sufficiently terrified, they can fight back against roving zombies in Paintball Apocalypse. From aboard a double-decker steel cart, battlers shoot glow-in-the-dark paintballs at unarmed zombies as they stagger past. Warriors can power up at the concessions area, where groups scorch marshmallows over open flames and annihilate plates of deep-fried Twinkies, pizza, and funnel cakes. Though the backstory remains in place at Field of Screams every year, each attraction takes on new twisted twists each fall.

At Sumner Skate Zone, disco balls shower the blue-and-white-checkered floor with sparkling patches of light. As the beat rolls onward, so too do the wheels of traditional, speed, and inline skates. Off the rink, an arcade room buzzes with the sounds of reckless point scoring and the giggles of ticklish joysticks.

During skating breaks, visitors can refuel on pizza, nachos, and cookies at the snack bar or peruse the center's stock of skating gear and accessories. Open-skate sessions, parties, and special events populate the arena on a daily basis. An afterschool program helps to ensure kids have a safe place to do their homework or discuss the impact of performance-enhancing drugs in the world of spelling bees.

Across the 25 handgun and rifle lanes at Gilbert Indoor Range, sharpshooters can fire at traditional paper targets as well as running-man and pop-up targets for quick draws. The firearm emporium also invites marksmen to square off against zombies that bleed and demand more lines in their 3-D simulators. Aside from the action, classes cover practical topics such as shotgun home defense, basic pistol use, and safety recommendations. Guests can also partake in self-defense and karate training or scissor lessons in the event that the paper targets decide to rise against us.

Established as the Washington Shakespeare Company in 1990, WSC Avant Bard is dedicated to updating classic theater for modern audiences, revitalizing well-worn drama with challenging interpretations. Under the leadership of newly appointed artistic director Tom Prewitt, the theater treats audiences to daring productions of established classics, new works, and little-known Shakespeare fan-fiction about him teaming up to fight crime with Queen Elizabeth I.

Originally the residence of U.S. Capitol architect Edward Clark, O Street Museum’s five interconnected townhouses today enfold a private club, luxury hotel, conference center, and museum. The O Street Museum explores the creative process with more than 1,500 ever-changing exhibits, including handwritten manuscripts, animation stills, and autographed items from such musicians as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Shedding the restraints of a standard museum, O Street grants guests the freedom to leaf through collections of photographs and letters from visual artists or gently cradle sleeping sculptures in their bare hands.

Themed tours for groups or individuals unveil the subtleties of the museum’s elegant space, adorned with original, hand-painted ceilings and Tiffany stained-glass windows. Immersive special events include the Raw and Exposed program, which draws from the museum’s vast archives as it presents rare recordings from artists such as Janis Joplin and The Beatles. Amateur and seasoned musicians unite on stage during weekly jam sessions, and the SRO concert series fills the museum’s intimate space with one-of-a-kind gospel performances, drag shows, and sock-puppet reenactments of the Revolutionary War.

From the great heights of the Windows over Washington restaurant, a rotation of comedians float nationally toured and tested routines toward dinner and late-night audiences. The Comedy Zone DC keeps punch lines rolling with its regularly stuffed calendar of established and up-and-coming jokesters. Windows over Washington backdrops the onstage uproar with the clinking of wineglasses, aromas wafting from steak and seafood dishes, and stunning views of the cityscape and the Potomac River.