A door-slamming comedy — eight doors to be exact — opens Friday at Trumbull New Theatre.

Josh Crank, who has appeared in productions at TNT and other area theaters as well as working at West Virginia Public Theatre and the Richmond (Ind.) Shakespeare Festival, will make his directing debut at the Niles community theater with Paul Slade Smith’s “Unnecessary Farce.”

“I’ve always been interested in film and stage,” Crank said. “I’ve been wanting to direct for years now. It’s definitely something I’ve been working up to for some time. The opportunity was there and I decided to take it.”

Smith’s play focuses on two cops who set up a sting operation at a cheap motel, where they believe the city’s embezzling mayor is going to be meeting his female accountant.

“These two police officers never quite made it up the ranks,” Crank said. “They uncover a secret mafia that runs the town, unbeknownst to anyone who could do anything to stop it.

“It’s got a lot of energy to it. It really takes you from page one to the end with never a dull or slow moment. It aligns with the audience there (at TNT) and their love for comedy.”

The cast features Jacqui Petrick, Jerry Kruse, Jim Kilgore, Cher Halas, Jill Sakonyi, Molly Cravalho and Ken Pierson.

The set design created some practical challenges — making room for those eight doors and two motel rooms on the TNT stage — and Crank also wanted to convey the low-budget nature of the motel by keeping the walls only 8 feet high.

“Ten-foot stage walls gave the illusion of too high class of an establishment,” he said.

He also made some lighting changes to the performance space that allow for some backlighting and visual moments that weren’t possible in the past.

Rehearsals have focused on getting the cast up to speed for a high-paced farce and getting used to working with all of those doors.

“We’ve been going slow and steady,” Crank said. “I broke down the show into five smaller sections — three in the first act and two in the second — and then working on the smaller sections so they won’t be overwhelmed.

“The tagline (for the play) is ‘Two cops. Three Crooks. Eight Doors,'” and that’s a lot for our smaller stage — just the mechanics of it, knowing when they need to leave a door open or leave a door shut so someone doesn’t run into it.”

Two cast members dropped out during rehearsals, requiring Crank to recast two roles. The changes forced TNT to delay “Unnecessary Farce,” which originally was scheduled to open last Friday.

The show only will run for two weekends and six performances instead of TNT’s traditional three-weekend runs.

After “Unnecessary Farce,” Crank is jumping right back into the fire, directing the musical “First Date” at TNT in May.

“It’s been a balancing act,” Crank said. “I have to pick what days to focus on each show. I held two days of auditions and had some private auditions. I was already supposed to assist directi, so with the director backing out it only made sense to take on that role.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Unnecessary Farce”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday through March 23 and 3 p.m. March 17 and 24.

WHERE: Trumbull New Theatre, 5883 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles.

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $17 for adults and $15 for students and are available online at trumbullnewtheatre.tix.com and by calling 330-652-1103.

Have an interesting story? Email Andy Gray at agray@tribtoday.com.