Jewels get heisted — they have to be somewhere.

Bodies appear — they couldn’t have disappeared.

What goes in, must come out. Right?

But in the Whidbey Playhouse’s newest production of “Exit the Body,” a farce by Fred Carmichael, nothing is quite as it appears and don’t expect anything or anybody to stay where they’ve been placed.

“Everytime I read it I find something new,” said “Exit” director Kyla Applegate.

“Exit the Body” follows mystery writer Crane Hammond (Elizabeth Powell) as she takes a month’s vacation and rents a house in Birchfield, Vt. one hot August. Along for the trip is Crane’s secretary, true-blue New Yorker Kate (Elizabeth Lundquist).

“I’m just a secretary, a good, honest New York secretary — trees scare me,” is typical of Kate’s peppering.

“She doesn’t treat fools lightly,” Lundquist said.

The two women rent a house from full-time busy body and part-time real estate agent Helen O’Toole (Mary Kay Hallen) who arranges for the two women to be taken care of by naive country girl Jenny (Sharayah Lovell) and Birchfield native Vernon Cookley (Dave Meyers).

But before she heads off, O’Toole spills the beans about a big jewel heist the month before. The thief got into a deadly car accident and since, rumors and speculation have spilled around the tiny town about whether the thief delivered the hot ice to his fence or whether it’s still hidden inside Hammond’s new rental.

Despite his late arrival to the rental, don’t worry, Hammond and her advice columnist hubby Richard (Daniel Murphy) aren’t on the outs.

On the outs, however, is the latest husband of Crane’s good friend Lillian Seymour (Nicole Bouvin) — but don’t tell him. The fashion designer and serial divorcee brings her latest flame and newest husband, Lyle Rogers (Fred Conley) to Birchfield which only adds another layer of trouble and tinkering for Hammond.

The Birchfield guests’ curiosity gets the best of them and they decide to look for the jewels, but they’d better hurry because sneaky crook Randolph (Brian Culbertson) has housemaid Jenny helping him rummage through drawers and ransack rooms.

Now, if only they could figure out who this Phillip Smith guy (Fernando Duran) was, but don’t expect Smith to be much help. He can’t remember — or can he? And in “Exit the Body” not every body or every situation is as simple as it seems.

Meyers can relate to his role as the Birchfield native Cookley and all the goings on of a small town. Meyers grew up in Loganville, Wis., population 199.

“I think they’ve gone over 200 by now,” he said.

Meyers said that similar to his hometown, Birchfield natives like Cookley have to become jack of all trades. In “Exit the Body” this means Cookley is eventually in everyone’s business.

“We take pride in our community in Birchfield and we’re real friendly folk,” Meyers said with a chuckle.

The play’s fast pace has everyone coming and going — including the local busybodies.

“We’re constantly going and you never know when anyone’s going to show up,” Meyers said.

Despite the play being written as taking place in the ‘50s or ‘60s, the director said it’s anything but dated.

“Anyone who grew up in that time period will appreciate the jokes that reference events and commercials of the time,” Applegate said. “But it’s definitely not stuck in that time — it’s very fresh.”

The script demands fast timing in both delivering lines and slamming doors. To the delight of the director and the enjoyment of audiences, the cast is filled with a roster of experienced actors who can deliver the timing needed in the fast-paced “Exit the Body.”

“I feel pretty lucky to have a cast where many have had comedy roles before and newer actors with innate timing,” she said.

As expected in a farce, Applegate said Carmichael’s script comes packed with intellectual zingers of lines, lots of door slamming and bells a-ringing.

From the moment that director Applegate read the script she couldn’t stop laughing.

“It was hilarious from beginning to end,” she said.

“Exit the Body” was written with intricately-detailed and delightfully over-the-top characters. From stoic New Englanders to everyday city folk, there’s something for everyone.

“There’s some pretty sarcastic characters and some great one-liners,” Applegate said.

Director Applegate may not look familiar to some people, but to anyone who’s attended a performance at the Playhouse lately her name’s no stranger. “Exit the Body” is the 15th show Applegate has been involved with in the last ten years. Her experience began as an enthusiastic drama student and now she’s held just about every job from prop assistant to assistant director. Press night Monday proved how Applegate’s experience has created a tight show with non-stop laugh opportunities for what will, no doubt, be sell-out crowds.

If they are patient and wait for the next door to slam, audiences will be rewarded and all will be revealed in “Exit the Body,” Applegate said. In the meantime enjoy picking up the clues.

“I continue to catch onto some new hint,” she said.