There is plenty of humanity in the play, but Johnson corks it up in performances where characters slam into each other like Sherman tanks.

Twelve-year-old Rudy Pazinski is the protagonist and a breath of fresh air inside a smothering family and a Catholic school. He's listlessly preparing for his Confirmation, but unable to learn his catechism and earnestly proclaiming that he'd like to "shop around" before committing to a religion.

Such a stubborn, heretic view causes Sister Clarissa to bring her ruler down even harder on Rudy's knuckles and makes his blowhard father and perpetually distracted mother eventually question their own parenting scripts.

But it's still 1959, and family values are simply inherited and applied without question — especially when two older children are discovering their sexuality and another boy is thumb-sucking and "retarded."

In contemporary terms, the Pazinski's are dysfunctional and ripe for clinical intervention.

Thankfully, Tucker Haworth consistently shines a hopeful light as young Rudy, whose insights and challenging observations provide much of the humor. Whether Rudy's cringing against his father or his teacher, Haworth's performance remains fresh, optimistic, and ultimately invincible — allowing the play to work as a comedy instead of a sordid domestic tragedy.

Parts of Karen Bumatai's early performance as the Mother suggest that she may have more depth than a sitcom frau, but Ray Bumatai as the Father and April Vogel as Sister Clarissa are not permitted much of a human aspect until the script reveals historical details and demands insight late in Act 2.

Cole Grindhard, Duncan Dalzell and Marcella Knox as the Pazinski siblings are simply highly wired and tightly wound throughout the play.

The run-on family squabble that constitutes the plot is punctuated by incidents instead of a developing story line. Elder brother hides "Playboy" magazines and temporarily leaves home after a quarrel. Elder sister has a sugar fixation, erratic hormones, and a profound confusion about boys and sex. "Retarded" brother learns a dirty word.

Father and the Nun share a bit of guilty history that explains some of their rigidity, and Mother simply does her best to cope in a fog of 1959 distraction.