Nudge, nudge, wink, wink — get ready for a murderous romp in the theater.

It’s as if playwright Ira Levin is elbowing the audience with a friendly nudge and devilish smile throughout what some critics call his best play, “Deathtrap: A Thriller in Two Acts.”

If you like a bit of murder and scream with your laughter, “Deathtrap” is for you.

Levin’s wickedly funny who’ll-do-it play opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12 at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley.

In the opening act, the audience meets successful writer Sidney Bruhl, who is comfortably ensconced in his charming Connecticut home with his loving wife, Myra.

But things are not going as well as the Bruhls would like, and the once-popular playwright is struggling to overcome a dry spell, which has resulted in a string of failures and has put a chink in the financial fabric of the Bruhl’s tony lifestyle.

A light at the end of the proverbial tunnel shines ominously into the Bruhl home when Sydney receives a script from a college student he happens to be teaching. The script is a thriller that Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway hit.

“A thriller in two acts,” drools Sidney over his protégé’s work.

“One set. Five characters. A juicy murder in Act One, unexpected developments in Act Two. Sound construction, good dialogue, laughs in the right places. Highly commercial. A gifted director couldn’t even hurt it.”

It’s all too good to be true, and the Bruhls can’t help themselves.

Sidney and Myra devise a plan to offer the student an opportunity to collaborate on the script, an idea at which the aspiring student playwright grabs without hesitation.

Thus follows a roller-coaster ride of steadily mounting suspense as the plot twists and turns with Levin’s arch cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter that you’ll be held enthralled until the final, startling moments of the play.

Levin, who also authored “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Boys from Brazil” and “The Stepford Wives,” had an immediate hit with “Deathtrap” when the play first opened in 1978.

It holds the record for the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway, and was also nominated that year for the Tony Award for “Best Play.”

The playwright’s son, Adam Levin-Delson, recalled seeing the famous show as it thrilled audiences on Broadway.

“My two brothers and I got to hang out with our father in the ‘standing room’ section of the Music Box theater for dozens of performances of ‘Deathtrap,’” Levin-Delson said. “We knew where all the ‘big scares’ were, and I loved watching the audience when those scares took place, because you could watch the audience members’ reactions radiate out from the front row to the back and sides.”

There was a night-and-day difference, however, between the characters that Levin wrote about and the author himself.

“Although many of his works entail despicable people doing horrific things to unsuspecting and undeserving loved ones, my father was gentle, compassionate and rarely even raised his voice, much less his crossbow (he had one — a retired prop from the Broadway production of ‘Deathtrap’),” recalled Levin-Delson. “He even wrote, through Sidney Bruhl, the protagonist of ‘Deathtrap,’ that ‘committing murder on paper siphons off the hostile impulses ….’ Perhaps that was the case for my father.”

The local production is directed by Chris Fisher and features Ed Cornachio as washed-up playwright Bruhl, and Shelley Hartle as his wife. The cast also includes Sean Brennan as Clifford, Phil Jordan as Porter Milgrim and Katie Woodzick as Helga Ten Dorp.

The sets are designed by Killian Ross, Joy Williams created the costumes, Jake Ewing is the lighting designer, Larry Woolworth created the props, Paul Ray choreographed the fights and Dylan Gibson is the stage manager.

The play runs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Saturday, Feb. 27. An opening-night reception on Friday, Feb. 12 will be hosted by the Edgecliff Restuarant.

Tickets range from $12 to $16, with discounts available for seniors, military, youths and groups, and are available at or by calling 221-8268 or 800-638-7631.