Ostensibly no one is more familiar with the Chekhov’s gun principle than Sidney Bruhl, the once-successful playwright now struggling with writer’s block in “Deathtrap,” Ira Levin’s Tony-nominated thriller.

The well-known theatrical rule dictates that if a gun is seen on stage in the first act, it must be used by the play’s end. And yet Bruhl, played by David Innis in Theatre Lawrence’s production, opening Friday at 7:30 p.m., himself the author of several murder mysteries, chooses to decorate the walls of his writer’s den with a full-blown arsenal of prop weapons.

Swords, axes, handcuffs, a machete, a mace, several blank guns that are fired in the show and one dramatically crucial crossbow (it plays an important role in the play’s final act) all hang there, making very clear to audiences that something horrible will happen. The matter of how and when, and to whom, isn’t so obvious.

“It’s a comedy that’s aware of the rules of the thriller,” says Theatre Lawrence technical director James Diemer. Not only that, “Deathtrap,” he says, “is playing with those rules that were so prevalent in these kinds of plays for so long and making something new of it.”

Sidney Bruhl is struggling with a creative “dry spell” when we first meet him, living in the shadow of his past successes and living off his wife’s (Myra, played by Erica Fox) money in their faux-rustic Connecticut home.

His desperation turns violent after receiving a manuscript in the mail from a student of his (Nicholas Johnson) named Clifford. Deeming the play a sure-fire hit, Sidney tells Myra he would “kill” to have written a script like Clifford’s. And so it begins.

The play in question? A one-set, five-character thriller titled “Deathtrap.”

It’s all very “self-referential,” says Charles Whitman, a local attorney and occasional Theatre Lawrence director who stepped in to helm the production.

What makes “Deathtrap” so challenging for its cast — and what separates it from countless other murder mysteries reliant on over-used tropes of the genre — is Levin’s avoidance of predictable stock characters.

“The characters are all doing things other than what you expect them to do,” Whitman says, not wanting to give away too much. “They all have really layered motivations, different intentions that you don’t expect when you first meet the characters.”

The late Levin, perhaps best known for his bestselling horror novel “Rosemary’s Baby,” was no stranger to the macabre when he penned “Deathtrap” in 1978. Much like his darkly comedic thriller “The Stepford Wives,” in which Levin critiqued the emphasis on youth and beauty in American media, “Deathtrap” satirizes show business and the classic whodunnit.

“There’s twists and turns and people in danger,” says Whitman, but “Deathtrap,” he adds, isn’t without (very dry) humor. “It’s most frightening and more horrifying if you identify with the characters and if there are occasional elements of fun.”

If you go:

– What: Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap”
– Where: Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Drive
– When: The play opens Friday at 7:30 p.m., with additional performances this weekend at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Catch it through March 13.
– Cost: Tickets range from $21.99 to $24.99 and can be purchased at www.theatrelawrence.com or by calling 843-7469.