There are a million cliches about family and home and they prove themselves true in the best way in “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” a joint collaboration between Georgetown’s Theater and Performance Studies Program and the Black Theater Ensemble. The themes of history and staying true to one’s roots remain at the core of the production, creating a thoughtful story of family and all that it brings to one’s life.

The play, which opens Nov. 1 and runs through this weekend, combines effective staging, acting and storytelling to produce a memorable and comedic take on one woman’s journey of self-discovery.

The play opens as Undine, a career-driven businesswoman played by Obehi Utubor (SFS ’09), learns that her husband has stolen her fortune and left her bankrupt and pregnant. First, she seeks advice from a slightly insane African priest, which yields a hilarious scene for the audience but no result for the title character. Desperate, she returns to her dysfunctional yet loving working-class family in Brooklyn. Once there, she must face her past and years of self-delusion, and along the way, she finds herself in some shocking situations.

Standing on a street corner at 1 a.m. as she tries to purchase heroin for her addicted grandmother, Undine laments, “My entire life has been organized to avoid this very moment!” She desperately holds up her cash to show the dealer, as he yells, “Stop waving that money around! This ain’t a goddamn supermarket.” The laughs keep coming as she haughtily insists that he speak more politely to her (“or I’ll take my business elsewhere,” she says.) Who would have thought to teach manners to a drug dealer?

Later, Undine finds herself in a drug rehab program, lying to others about having an addiction she does not have, rather than admit to being framed for buying herion while pursuing a romance with a former addict, played by Robert Klein (MSB ’09). Along the way, she gradually understands the mistake she made by cutting herself off from her roots in order to find success. The dilemma Undine faces — pursuing goals while remaining true to herself — will evoke sympathy from a wide range of audiences.

Isaiah Wooden (COL ’04), the director of the show and an academic records administrator in the School of Continuing Studies said that he was very interested in putting on the play because of its thematic similarities to Georgetown.

“It speaks to what a lot of students here go through,” he said. “A lot of the time they’re leaving their families behind and everything they knew.” Wooden felt that the work, in many ways, addressed “what you have to give up to be a student.”

The unique characters, especially those from Undine’s family, account for most of the laughs. Undine’s brother, Flow, portrayed by Ngunjiri Ngari (MSB ’08), is a security guard at Walgreens who, according to Undine “cannot reconcile his love of the soldier’s uniform with his love of personal freedom.” Her parents, played by Shirley Norman (COL ’08) and Kyle Williams (COL ‘09), give equally brilliant performances.

But Carolyn Chambers (COL ’11), who played Undine’s grandmother, was the true scene-stealer. A newcomer to Georgetown theater, Chambers perfected every mannerism — with her snores and kind words, she represented everyone’s vision of the stereotypical grandmother, but with added quirks.

The acting choices for each character, which Wooden said were meticulously worked out during rehearsals, greatly added to both the comedic and dramatic aspects of the play. Utubor, in particular, gave an impressive performance in the challenging and demanding role of the title character. She projected a bossy, self-absorbed demeanor in the opening of the play, and audiences slowly witnessed that arrogance disintegrate.

The play utilizes contemporary, minimalist staging, focusing the audience’s attention squarely on the performers and the story. The audience enters the theater to see a single table, a purse and a phone. Silver fence pieces make up the sides of the stage, with road signs attached to accentuate Undine’s journey. A particularly successful aspect of the production is the intermittent pauses during which Undine speaks in asides, or directly to the audience, alternatively hysterical or sardonic about the situations in which she finds herself.

Warm-hearted and often laugh-out-loud hilarious, “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” offers a unique take on the classic theme of comeuppance. The eccentric actions of family and the love that goes along with it take center stage in this story about a self-absorbed woman who overcomes her self-delusion and reclaims her past and atone for her mistakes.

“Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine” runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 4 in the Devine Studio Theatre, located in the Davis Center. Tickets can be ordered online at http://performingarts.georgetown.edu or by calling (202) 687-ARTS.