Out of the ashes of a little fire that caused a big mess at the Lawrence Community Theatre comes a sidesplitting farce that multiplies six doors by seven people and finds at least 42 ways for things to go wrong.

“Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii” opened Friday at the theater, newly refurbished after a Dec. 29 basement blaze destroyed a chunk of the costume stock and coated the building’s interior with soot.

The Allan Stratton comedy, under the direction of Lawrence attorney Charles Whitman, has nothing to do with doctor’s offices, hula skirts or mai tais (though liquor and other recreational substances play a minor role). The play takes its name from the title of Harlequin Romance writer Vivien Bliss’s work-in-progress. The wide-eyed, 33-year-old virgin has decided to embark on her first love affair and finds herself imbibing liquid courage at the home of Edgar Chisholm, a respectable geography teacher she met in a college ceramics course.

Just when her bravery peaks and, dressed in pajamas, she starts a flirtatious game by hiding from her would-be beau in the closet, Edgar discovers his advice columnist wife, Doris, has canceled weekend plans and stayed home.

Thus, a downhill spiral begins. A jealous Doris shatters Edgar’s beloved ceramic sculptures when she finds out they were inspired by Vivien. A crazed fan of Doris’s advice column shows up with pantyhose on his head to solicit her suggestions in person.

Armed with a tape recorder, Vivien breathlessly dictates events — with appropriate dramatic embellishments — to create scenarios for her book’s heroine, Nurse Jane.

Add to the mix multiple and mistaken identities, slamming doors, a long-lost son, Vivien’s militant book editor and a nosy reporter sniffing out a story, and you’ve got … well … Murphy’s Law comes to mind:

If anything can go wrong, it will.

But that principle only applies to the action, not the acting, in this production. Aisha Wolgamott delivers a refreshing, magnetic portrayal of the naive Vivien Bliss who, despite writing about heaving bosoms and breathy vixens, remains decidedly inexperienced in the ways of love. Wolgamott’s bubbly exuberance and strategically placed utterings of “Paragraph” and “Chapter 2” become punch lines in themselves.

Jane Henry captures well the uppity, self-centered personality of Doris Chisholm, a “shrewish old frump” who’s rarely home and finds her husband quite boring. Henry nails the accent of her wealthy, condescending character and elicits just the right amount of scorn for her snootiness on the one hand and pity for being (relatively) victimized by her husband and his lover on the other.

Charles Decedue’s portrayal of Edgar Chisholm is polite and doesn’t quite convince the audience he’s the type who would have an affair, but that’s just what the part requires. His unlikely relationship with Vivien almost seems wholesome, given his wife’s neglect.

Dan Spurgin is hilarious as the ulcer-suffering, nylon-headed Bill Scant. Jennifer Brown, Yossarian Cardin-Ritter and Jill Sibley (who’s character is cold-hearted, to say the least) add yet another layer of comic relief to the confusion.

Comedic timing, rapport between characters and obviously tight directing do justice to Stratton’s cleverly concocted script.

Kudos to all the volunteers, painters and crews who, in just three weeks, eradicated most signs of fire and allowed an energetic cast to flood the building with laughter.

“Nurse Jane” continues for the next two weekends.