Terri Mastrobuono admits it. She didn't want to direct "From Up Here." She wasn't all that impressed with Liz Flahive's comedy when she first read it.

But the show had to go on and Mastrobuono has indeed directed "From Up Here," which opens today (Feb. 9) at Elizabethtown College's Tempest Theatre and runs through Feb. 19.

And when she began to work on the play, something happened to Mastrobuono that has never happened to her in her long theater career.

The play surprised her. Really surprised her.

"Usually, I can get the tone of a play on the first reading, but I missed it this time," she says. "When I watched these actors mine the humor I realized how funny it was and then, how tender it was. It's a remarkably written play. And the cast really connected to it.

"From Up Here" is the story of Kenny Barrett and his family.

Kenny, a senior in high school, is returning to school after an "incident".

"He has done something potentially dangerous and alarming," Mastrobuono says. "The play opens on his first day back to school."

While the play takes its time revealing what happened, the opening scene lets us know that the Barretts have trouble communicating, as they all constantly interrupt each other.

"They are dealing with the aftermath of the bad thing Kenny has done," Mastrobuono says. "They are holding on to tenuous connections, struggling to maintain this veneer of normalcy."

The Barretts are not a tragic family, Mastrobuono says. But they have their share of challenges, as every family does.

Grace is Kenny's overbearing mother; Lauren, 15, is Kenny's sister; and Daniel is their relatively new stepdad, who is trying extra hard to be liked by the two.

And Grace's sister, Caroline, makes a surprise visit to the family.

There is also a girl at school who befriends Kenny and a counselor/police officer character.

"What I appreciate about this play is that it's not cliched. There's no 'here is the good guy, here is the bad guy' in it."

Kenny (being played by freshman Stuart Foley) is sensitive and smart, but he doesn't have many friends.

She notes that Foley perfectly fits the role.

"You look at him and your heart goes out to him. And the fact we connect with him and feel for him is very critical to the show."

A lot of the humor in "From Up Here" is universal.

"There is a scene in the counselor's office that anybody who ever had to go to a guidance counselor will be thinking, 'Oh my God, I have been there'," Mastrobuono says.

Another scene is set at a high school dance.

"It sets up one of those moments where you remember your worst memory -- I hope -- of a high school dance, and yet it's hysterical."

What Kenny does is something many of us think about doing, though we wouldn't go as far as he does.

"The play walks that razor-thin line between comedy and pathos and I give kudos to my cast because it's such a difficult line to hold, and they do," says Mastrobuono.

"It's not about the event, which is what is so brilliant about it. The event is the catalyst that sets the new family dynamic," she says.

We see people doing misguided things but meaning well. We see tension in the Barrett family, but we see love too," Mastrobuono says. "They are not a tragic family."

The surprises have continued through the rehearsal process.

"(The other night) so many discoveries were made, I almost started to cry and that surprises me," she says. "It was so beautifully poignant and for that to be given to me by the students -- that's really lovely."

"From Up Here"

Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m.

Thurs. and Fri., Feb. 17 at 8 p.m.

Sun., Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. $6

Tempest Theatre

Elizabethtown College, 361-1170