Years ago, Daniel Cuff was cast in the role of a tree in his sixth grade play. Now Mr. Cuff, as a high school junior, has blossomed with an accomplished performance as Clay-Boy Spencer, a role which bonds the vast cast of characters together in The Homecoming, in production at the Vineyard Playhouse through Dec. 22.

Mr. Cuff plays the dual role of narrator and eldest child of the family. Clay-Boy wistfully recalls that poignant, long ago Christmas Eve when he, yet a child, struggled to know and be known by his father.

The Homecoming is a nostalgic reminiscence of Depression-era life in western Virginia. This play is based on the novella which served also as inspiration for the television series The Waltons. It’s Christmas Eve, and though the eight children banter about the holiday, the focus of the family is the father’s delay to return home. It’s snowing, he’s got a 40-mile commute, and as a working man, he has to face temptations of wine and women along the way.

The mother, Olivia Spencer, played by Molly Purves, stoically goes about her tasks in preparation for Christmas. Time and again she retreats to the window to gaze longingly into the gathering storm in search of her husband. Her pensive, hopeful face bears the faith he will make it home, but the challenges seem insurmountable. The weather worsens.

Clay-Boy oversees his siblings in challenges of teenage angst, sibling conflicts and household chores. Through it, the family is consumed by the father’s delay.

An extensive supporting cast of townspeople adds depth to the play and broadens the story. The cast ranges from single-digit elementary school students to 87-year-old Nancy Luedeman. Jamie Harris as Reverend Dooly and Xavier Powers as Birdshot Sprouse contrast vividly with the engaging Staples sisters, Jill Macy and Chelsea McCarthy.

The audience follows the trajectory of the story with empathy, especially as snow falls and the parade of visitors to the family bring no news of the missing father.

Director M.J. Bruder Munafo has pulled together a flock of children in coordinating this engaging effort, suitable for and appreciated by all ages. The play also is a natural segue into the annual fourth grade theatre project which carries the Playhouse into the new season.

This production of The Homecoming contnues to Dec. 22 and is dedicated to the memory of Virginia Hackney, who performed in the playhouse’s 2004 staging of The Homecoming.