There are a lot of reasons to love Lawrence Community Theatre.

Reading actors’ cast bios and discovering what they do in real life (director of pharmacy, lawyer, etc.) when they’re not strutting their stuff as colorful characters on stage. Enjoying the attentive courtesies of committed volunteers. And last but certainly not least, experiencing the heart and soul that go into the plays, which, at their worst, are amusing experiments, and at their best, moments of wonder that remind you why the arts make communities interesting and vibrant.

The theater’s latest effort, “Red Herring,” is a strange little comedy that tries too hard to be clever but occasionally shines with glimmers of wit that reveal the hard-working talents of the cast and director Jeanne Chin. Playwright Michael Hollinger did a fairly good job of weaving together a plot that revolves around three couples struggling with the uncertainty of their relationships, set in the context of nuclear espionage, murder and the shadow of McCarthyism.

Like its title, the play lures audience members along with false leads – you’re never quite sure who is connected to whom, though you get a lot of reasons to speculate. Unfortunately, Hollinger primarily relies on mocking the conservatism of the 1950s as his main comic relief, exploiting the big shocker that people slept together, even without the holy binds of matrimony. It’s a cultural revelation that goes from being mildly amusing to downright overstated and boring, played out and exemplified methodically by each couple in the story.

Hollinger’s characters also struggle with awkward dialogue. For example, at one point, out of nowhere, one of the main characters, Maggie, declares, “Son of a bimbo!” And there’s a painfully long five-minute joke-athon about how a corpse’s body parts are chopped to bits. It’s a wink-wink-nudge-nudge sort of humor that’s occasionally amusing but often annoying and tiresome, like having a conversation with a socially awkward relative.

Still, the actors did an admirable job of throwing themselves into the production, and there were a lot of memorable moments that made you laugh out loud and feel glad you were there. One scene between cranky, quirky landlady Mrs. Kravitz (the wonderfully salty and deadpan Jane Henry) and her incognito lover, Andrei (played by scene stealer Dean Bevan) is hysterical, with Andrei pretending to be a mute with a series of ridiculous hand gestures that Kravitz readily (and imaginatively) interprets for FBI agent Frank (Marion Constantinescu, who channels the charm of 1950s Hollywood).

Andrei’s drunken exchange at a bar with Maggie (played with gusto by Uta Walter) also sparkles with sly humor and wisecracking as the two characters share love advice over shots. And leading lady Lynn (the lively Liza Pehrson) and the versatile Barbara Johnson (who played several roles with dexterity) seasoned each scene with just the right amount of zaniness that kept the pace of the play going and the dynamics of the characters in synch.

Although it sometimes flounders, “Red Herring” is a charming production that demonstrates Lawrence Community Theatre’s creativity and commitment to putting on great shows in Lawrence.