The newest offering of the Freeport Players community theater group combines the elements of a farce and those of a thriller, and ends up as a comedy.

Running on consecutive weekends, “Exit the Body” makes its Freeport debut at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17.

As is standard for Freeport Players, a preview performance will be held on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the door only, and sold by donation.

“Exit the Body,” by Fred Carmichael, tells the story of mystery writer Crane Hammond’s New England rental house as the rendezvous point for jewel thieves. The hunt for the jewels and the efforts to keep secrets reach a climax at 2 a.m., when four couples unknown to each other turn up to search. Carmichael was the author of more than 50 plays, primarily comedies, farces and mysteries.

“Exit the Body,” not recommended for children, runs close to 21?2 hours, including an intermission.

Elizabeth Guffey, artistic director for Freeport Players, said that she chose Linda Duarte of Monmouth to direct the play because Duarte’s talents as a director line up with this particular play.

“I think about what the demands of a particular play are,” Guffey said. “They can be musical, character or action-driven. Those are the three kinds of skills that a director would have to have. Linda happens to be very good at moving people around a stage. There are a lot of entrances and exits in this particular play. She also ‘blocks’ actors well, distributing them around the stage.”

Betty Gravelle, a Freeport Player from Portland, has the lead part of Crane Hammond, who is renting the house where a jewel thief once lived.

“She really has a great stage presence, and really good timing,” Guffey said of Gravelle. “She can carry a scene.”

Martha White will play the part of Hammond’s secretary, Kate Bixley. Ashley Thibodeau is the country girl Jenny, Dustin Pazar is wanna-be gangster Randolph, Penny Davis-Dublin plays Hammond’s friend and neighbor Lillian Seymour, Keith Anctil is Seymour’s new husband Lyle Rogers, Bre Chamberlain plays local real estate agent Helen O’Toole, Gordon Adams plays local handyman Vernon Cookley, David Wallace is Hammond’s husband Richard Hammond and Simon Skold plays the mysterious stranger.