They don’t come more homegrown than this. Kevin Rice’s The Pickleball Wars, which is having its world premiere at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater through Sept. 9, is a comedy of, by, and for the denizens of the Outer Cape. Rice, the executive artistic director of Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro and a cofounder of WHAT, is also a longtime Wellfleet resident, a seasoned playwright, and a scholar of Russian literature and culture.

His new play is bound to satisfy all sorts of local audiences. Among them, the lovers of pickleball, especially those with a tribal passion for the sport and its rivalry with tennis on the courts, not unlike the competitive enmity that Red Sox fans have for the Yankees. Then there are the lovers of WOMR, the Outer Cape’s community radio station, and lovers of raucous comedy, particularly (if you’re old enough to remember) those Cold War–era movies that make mincemeat of American anxieties, starring Peter Sellers or Dick Van Dyke or even a young Woody Allen. And finally, the play will excite just about anyone who harbors a pet peeve about noisy neighbors.

That’s because The Pickleball Wars is as much a satire of espionage and Boomer lifestyles in the age of Trump and Putin as it is about properly hitting (or “dinking”) a ball with a paddle.

At the center of the story is Fred Fallon (Robin Bloodworth), an early retiree who has moved to the Cape to work on a book. Said tome begins and ends in Kazakhstan, the oil-rich former Soviet republic that Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat comedies have made famous — and a laughingstock. Fred is married to Sue (Kelly Christopher), who is growing increasingly impatient with the book’s mushrooming length and endless gestation, as well as Fred’s procrastination at WOMR, where he deejays a retro rock show, Fred Free Fallin’, recalling (and repeating ad absurdum) the chorus of Tom Petty’s hit song.

Fred doesn’t open the play, however. Things start off on the pickleball court next door to Fred and Sue’s house. That’s where K.A. Bottoms (Kathy McCafferty) and Tina Mae Perks (Tatiana Chavez) lead an introductory course on how to join the pickleball crusade. K.A. is a bit like a drill sergeant, full of rules and lists, and Tina Mae is her “polyglot” sidekick. Their aim, besides breaking down the fourth wall and enlisting the audience, is to torture Fred with the sounds of pickleball being played. They even court Sue and question her about Fred’s book.

Why would a pair of militant pickleball instructors be interested in Fred’s book? From Sue, they learn that she and Fred were in Kazakhstan as youthful Peace Corps volunteers and that he’s in touch with Kazakh rebels he met there. Fred, while spinning rock oldies at WOMR, is nudged by the station’s manager, Matty (Dennis Cunningham) to field pledges. He gets one call from someone with a Kazakh accent. What can it mean?

Decoding the plot in advance would spoil the fun, and I’m not even sure it all adds up. But that’s beside the point. The actors (and their co-conspirators in the audience) are aiming to have a few good belly laughs at everyone’s expense, including their own. And in that aim, they are peerless. Bottoms and Chavez are a precision duo of clowns, and Bloodworth is a hilarious victim of his own self-absorption, with Christopher and Cunningham giving him sure-footed support.

As usual at WHAT, the production values are sublime. The set by Justin Lahue is a three-way collision — dialectic? — encompassing a pickleball court and Fred and Sue’s house next door, as well as a recording studio at WOMR jutting out on the level above. The lighting (Patricia M. Nichols), costumes (Jennifer Spagone), and sound (Grace Oberhofer) work seamlessly, allowing the mayhem to fester organically.

Director Daisy Walker, who has many credits at WHAT and with Rice’s plays, keeps things moving gracefully. Rice’s Pickleball Wars offers her a funhouse of material to work with. The play is a consummate audience pleaser, and for those willing to plumb its intricacies, there’s a wealth of ominous detail to ponder. But perhaps the biggest joke of all is the mess of the world we live in.

The Court Will Rise

The event: The Pickleball Wars, a new play by Kevin Rice
The time: Until Sept. 9, Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.
The place: Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, 2357 Route 6
The cost: $42.50, including fees; seniors, $38.50; students and balcony, $17.50