Kim King / Submitted photoCast members, from left, Michaela Fender, Sandro Ditta and William Jahn rehearse a scene from the dark comedy “The Trouble with Harry,” a Bend Experimental Art Theatre production showing tonight at 2nd Street Theater.

In Bend Experimental Art Theatre’s production of “The Trouble with Harry,” opening tonight in Bend, the oddball residents of a small town get tripped up, sometimes literally, by the appearance of a dead body on a hill above town.

When each of the townsfolk has a theory as to what should be done with Harry, wackiness and exhumations of Harry ensue in this play based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 comic whodunit and adapted for the stage by Daniel Estes.

“The individuals that live in this place — in my interpretation of it — they all have a secret,” said director Leila Smith-Daines, working with a young cast of elementary, middle and high school students.

“They all try to figure out who did it,” They bury Harry and dig him up, and bury him and dig him up … because of each one of the characters thinking they are responsible,” said Smith-Daines. “But it is actually somewhat comical.”

According to Howard Schor, BEAT’s executive director, the company he co-founded will see an expanded season with two additional main shows, including “The Hobbit,” bringing the total offerings to five, as well as a few smaller black box theater productions.

“The Trouble with Harry”; 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays tonight through Oct. 4, with matinees at 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 5; tickets are $15, $10 for students; 2nd Street Theater, 220 NE Lafayette Ave., Bend; www.beattickets.org or 541-419-5558.

— David Jasper