“Stick Fly” as a piece of theater is a delicate balancing act.

It is at times comedic, dramatic and consistently like being on a knife’s edge. You almost feel as though the whole of the play’s events are being performed on a powder keg that is dangerously close to an explosion.

Part of you prays it will burst and part of you hopes that it won’t.

To achieve such a careful equilibrium, the whole of the production must be precisely calibrated. If even one part is out of alignment then it might risk spoiling the whole.

Thankfully, the immensely talented artists at The Pennsylvania Playhouse where “Stick Fly” continues in its Lehigh Valley premiere through Oct. 27, understood this assignment in spades.

Indeed, much of the play feels like a revelation and it is staggering to think that in the almost 20 years since its premiere in 2006, “Stick Fly” feels as relevant as ever. In some ways, it is perhaps even more so.

The play opens on Martha’s Vineyard where an affluent black family, the LaVays, are gathering to spend some time away in their vacation home. It is abundantly clear very early on that some kind of rift has occurred in the family.

The mother is absent and the two sons, Kent and Flip, along with their respective partners, Taylor and Kimber, begin to feel as though there is something their father is just not telling them.

That, at least, is the basic plot. But as the action unfolds, I quickly realized that the play runs much deeper. I slowly began to see that these are not only characters in a play, but personified opposing forces on a disquieting collision course with one another.

Almost immediately, tensions develop between the six characters, and we spend much of the second act watching them try to work through the tensions before a late revelation threatens to shatter the familial façade once and for all. It is shocking. It is moving, it is consistently funny, and above all, it is what good theater should be.

At its core, “Stick Play” is not only a complex and richly-layered family drama. It also manages to double as a palpable meditation on lived experience. Its themes are incredibly specific: race, privilege, power, responsibility, class. But the main question it is posing is rather broad and universal. It seems to ask: What do we owe to each other and what do we owe to ourselves?

In Pennsylvania Playhouse director Torez Mosley’s hands we just might have an answer. For 2 1/2 hour run time (with one 15-minute intermission), she suspends these characters in a kind of stasis and puts them under a microscope, yes for our amusement, but also for our judgment.

In staggering, unblinking naturalism we will eventually see these characters for who they really are as they each become undone and unraveled in their own way. By the play’s end, though, we are somewhat left to draw our own conclusions. There is still some solace to be found.

That powder keg I mentioned earlier will have gone off, but in the aftermath of the explosion the characters may just find their way back to some kind of reconciliation. There is incredible nuance in that and that nuance is a testament to the profound and clear-eyed vision Torez Mosley has brought to the production.

The same could be said of the technical elements. The scenic and lighting design by Brett Oliveira fill the Playhouse space in a way that feels understated, yet all-consuming.

The costumes by Briana Green are equally well-designed, each subtly providing little clues about the characters just by the way in which they are dressed.

As for the production as a whole? Well, to put it plainly, I was riveted. I began to care very deeply about the LaVay family: their struggles, their pain, their arguments and their philosophies.

The entirety of the play is mostly absorbing throughout, though if there is a point where the piece starts to drag, it is through no fault of the actors or the production. I did find the second act a little bit too long and felt that it could have done without a scene or two.

Then again, those scenes contain just as many important character moments as all the others, so I see why it may have been difficult for the playwright, the incredibly gifted Lydia R. Diamond, to trim or cut. That again, though, is an issue with the play itself but it is one which the production must contend with. Within just a few minutes, the pacing had seemingly corrected itself and moved toward a spirited conclusion.

The journey to reach that conclusion was equally satisfying, thanks in large part to the sublime performances of the entire company. I struggle to select a central character, as “Stick Fly” is such an ensemble piece. And what an ensemble this is.

Azelia Dos-Santos brings a palpable and bubbly energy to Taylor, while also managing to imbue her with a certain irrepressible anger. Her turn toward rage is the main through-line through which we experience the events of the play and she delivers ably as a surrogate figure for the audience, as we come into contact with the family for the first time.

Marquett Ferrel was equally good as the well-meaning Kent. He is Taylor’s fiancée and also the younger brother in the central LeVay family. In Kent, we see a wounded man who is haunted by the lack of love which his father denies him. Yet we watch as he seemingly vows to turn that lack into a strength.

Justin Ferguson’s Harold “Flip” LeVay is a sensational creation: A man who seems to breathe charisma and walks through the world as though it was created for him. And yet, we still catch glimpses of a consuming darkness which seems to fill him.

Not to be outdone by his onstage sons, Keith Miller (at the performance I attended) brought a sneering pomposity to Joseph LaVay, the family Patriarch, while still managing to showcase a sense of his humanity. He seems to be a man of his time, a quasi-academic doctor figure who always knows best. Even when he is wrong he will never admit it. There is a certain sinisterness in that.

On the other end of the spectrum, as Kimber, Flip’s “friend,” Misha Holt brings a delicate sense of understanding, perception and warmth to a character who might just as easily been written off as thin and obtrusive. I found her incredibly compelling whenever she was onstage, and especially appreciated the perspective she brought.

Last but certainly not least, special mention must be paid to Regeema Davis Farley’s Cheryl, who just commands the stage whenever she is present.

Cheryl is perhaps the most pivotal character in the whole of the piece and she was rendered perfectly as a suffering woman who constantly lives her life through a series of contrasts. If there is a criticism to be had, it would be that Farley reads slightly too old for the 18-year-old Cheryl, yet she was such an assured presence that it never really bothered me.

In the end, “Stick Fly” is everything I want from local theater. It not only delivers a rich and compelling narrative with plenty of laughs and dramatic beats, but also creates a space where we are asked to engage in a dialogue, to prompt discussion, to question ideologies, and come to terms with who we are. What more could you possibly want for an evening’s entertainment?

I would encourage you to see a performance of “Stick Fly” at The Pennsylvania Playhouse.

“Stick Fly,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26; 3 p.m. Oct. 13, 20, 27, The Pennsylvania Playhouse, 390 Illick’s Mill Road, Bethlehem. 610-865-6665, http://www.paplayhouse.org/