This year, Coastal Repertory Theatre is giving Coastsiders a holiday comedy with a twist for Christmas.

“Greetings!” features a cast of five directed by Roxane Ashe and opens Friday for four weekends at 1167 Main St., Half Moon Bay.

A relatively new play by Tom Dudzick, it invites viewers to re-examine old beliefs in light of new ideas, all in good holiday fun.

Photo courtesy Coastal Repertory Theatre Gathering around their holiday table, the Gorski family, from right, younger son Mickey (Beau Brown,) parents Emily (Gina Giustino) and Phil (Mark Drumm), and elder son Andy (Dominic Falletti) and his fianc�©e Randi (Christine Sliva) celebrate a very unusual Christmas in '��Greetings!'�� opening on Friday.

“I wanted to (direct) this for four or five years,” said Ashe. “It speaks to me because it’s about what I think the holiday season should be about — family, faith, miracles, possibilities.”

Andy Gorski (Dominic Falletti) is flying home for Christmas to introduce his new fiancée Randi Stein (Christine Sliva) to his family. He’s worried: they’re devoutly Catholic and she’s Jewish and an atheist. Privately, he misses the mystery of Christmas that he knew as a child.

Things go as he feared: his grouchy dad Phil (Mark Drumm,) who uses a cane since a car accident, is spewing biases and unable to deal with Stein’s atheism, as his mom Emily (Gina Giustino) struggles to mollify Phil.

The only immediate acceptance comes from Gorski’s mentally disabled brother Mickey (Beau Brown) who at 30 has the impetuously loving mind of a child.

Then an unexpected, mysterious arrival reshuffles the realities they had all long held dear.

“It might be that the universe is more inclusive than we know and there doesn’t have to be a wrong or a right,” said Ashe.

A warm side note is that Falletti and Sliva are engaged in real life and plan May nuptials.

Their story unfolded in the local theater: They met in “The Laramie Project” (2005), got to know each other while playing brother and sister in “The Foreigner” (2006), fell in love and got engaged somewhere around “The Full Monty.”

Playing Andy’s fiancée “is very natural,” Sliva said with a laugh. “We don’t need to do a lot of rewriting.”

“It’s amazing how much it mirrors where we are in our lives,” added Falletti.

Playing Mickey also mirrors real life for Brown, who lives with cerebral palsy which has left him with a limp. Sent in childhood to different Bay Area schools for the disabled, he drew on memories to build his role.

“What you see in Mickey are bits and pieces of the kids I knew,” he said. “It’s one of the most emotionally rewarding roles I’ve ever played, and one of the most difficult.”

Revisiting memories wasn’t easy. “I have worked hard to be capable,” said Brown, who frequently runs lights for Coastal Rep plays. “It’s hard for me to let loose on stage because I am self-conscious. Having to revisit all that brings up feelings.”

For Ashe, the play brings optimism. “At this time in the world it feels very profound … The audience can take away faith in family and love and humor, how a small thing can change the world, and that there is room for different faiths and they’re all right.”

Brown also has high hopes for what viewers will find. “Of course, a fun holiday show,” he said, but “I also hope they get, what else is there? What am I missing? What do I really believe?

“Never lose the sense of wonder. Never take anything at face value because there’s always something under the surface.”

“Greetings!” runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 13. Tickets range from $15 to $25. For information, call 569-3266.