I think of The Member of the Wedding every day. One of my treasured possessions is a photograph by Ruth Orkin of the 1950 opening night party with Ethel Waters, Carson McCullers and Julie Harris huddled together. They look dazed and contented.

As indeed they should. Within days, Waters' and Harris' performances were the stuff of legend, and McCullers had established herself as a playwright of real distinction.

Set in a small Southern town, MOTW is the story of Frankie Addams, a tall and tomboyish 12-year-old girl who doesn't fit in. She shares her life with an oddball makeshift family: Berenice, the Negro (as it would have been described then) cook, and Frankie's endearing little cousin, 6-year-old John Henry. The three sit together in the kitchen — backstage, as it were, to real life.

Early on, Frankie loses hope of being invited to the local girls club. Instead, she pins her dreams on the wedding of her adored brother Jarvis and his fiancée Janice. The wedding — and the thought of moving away from home — ignites in Frankie a fiery wanderlust.

It is membership Frankie wants — to the club, and to the wedding: to be not merely an onlooker, but a full participant. McCullers' play is about inclusion and exclusion, and Frankie — longing to find her community ("the we of me," she imagines it) — is homeless.

There is a tendency to dismiss MOTW as an achingly poetic coming-of-age-narrative (think of Capote's Christmas and Thanksgiving memories). And so it is. But look harder — you'll find more.

Under the nostalgic Southern veneer, McCullers' play vibrates with dark, neurotic energy. MOTW dares to question what we would later call "sexual identity." (Is Frankie in love with the idea of a wedding? With sister-in-law-to-be Janice? Or with Jarvis?) Racial tensions are everywhere, even roiling within the lovable Berenice. (Note that Frankie's father, progressive enough to denounce corporal punishment, upbraids a "worthless nigger.") And virtually every character in the play — including adorable John Henry — has a moment of unthinkable cruelty.

So a perfect production of MOTW will find the poetry, as well as the oddness. People's Light & Theatre director Abigail Adams come remarkably close, with special strength in the former. There's a marvelous performance by Melanye Finister as Berenice — she's younger and sexier than Waters, and the character makes new sense. Thirteen-year-old Anne Berkowitz is a remarkable Frankie, full of brash confidence. If she misses a bit of the character's complex extremes, it's completely understandable (and worth remembering that when Harris gave her legendary performance, she was already 25 and a Broadway veteran). Kalev Rudolph (John Henry) is as cute as a button.

In fact, the whole company at People's Light (onstage and off) shines in what is truly an ensemble effort. We rarely get the chance anymore to see The Member of the Wedding, so it's especially nice to have such a strong production in town. By all means, go see it.

The Member Of The Wedding Through Oct. 23, People's Light & Theatre Co., 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500