When "Around the World in 80 Days" opens tonight at Saint Vincent College, main character Phileas Fogg won't be the only one making a homecoming.

Director Colleen Reilly, a screenwriter who has lived in Los Angeles for a decade, is the eldest daughter of Saint Vincent theater director and faculty member Joe Reilly. So the stage of Saint Vincent Theatre is as familiar to her as the house in which she grew up.

"I started coming to rehearsals here when I was 3," said Ms. Reilly, 33. "I grew up on the campus. It's a beautiful, magical place to be a child."

She vividly remembers how she and her younger sister, actress Annie Reilly, played among the set pieces during rehearsal breaks -- and how, even though they were very young, they seemed to know what they wanted to do with their lives.

"Usually, it would be me telling Annie what to do, me directing and her acting," Ms. Reilly recalled.

With both of their parents involved with theater -- their mother is actress Patricia Reilly -- the sisters' love of the stage seems to be in their blood, she said.

"We both thought about doing other things. Our parents would have been delighted if we'd wanted to be doctors or dentists. But they're also honored we chose lives in that field."

Despite her early interest in theater, Ms. Reilly's path back to the Saint Vincent stage hasn't been a direct one. She holds a master's of fine arts in film production from the University of Southern California, but her bachelor's degree, from Williams College in Massachusetts, is in medieval history.

And though she said her parents have always been supportive of her interest in the stage, she said they've also taught her some hard lessons about show business -- as when her father did not choose her for the part of a young girl in one of his plays.

"I was 14, so it was heartbreaking," she said. "But now I'm grateful because if he says I'm a good director, I know he means it."

Mr. Reilly, who has directed and taught at Saint Vincent since 1974, said he does mean it. When he looked at the script for "Around the World in 80 Days," which is Mark Brown's adaptation of Jules Verne's rollicking fantasy novel, he said he thought of his daughter right away.

"I thought she'd deliver better than I could," he said.

He noted that the play, which includes an elephant stampede, last-minute escapes and lots of slapstick humor, requires the skills of a good storyteller. And storytelling, he said, is the passion that brings together all of his daughter's interests.

"It's always been about telling a story for her. She's very good at it."

Ms. Reilly noted that because there was no way "to go from an Indian temple to a building in Yokohama [in Japan] in five minutes," the play asks a lot of the audience's imagination.

"We push together a table, two chairs, some trunks -- and that's an elephant," she said. "With the actors' passion and commitment, it's very convincing."

The five professional cast members play 39 roles, with David Cabot as Phileas Fogg.

Ms. Reilly said the play is a family show that hearkens back to the best movies of Hollywood's golden age.

"It reminds me of 'Gunga Din,' " she said, referring to the 1939 film starring Cary Grant. Like that movie, she said, the play "has both genuine adventure and genuine comedy."

Although she'll fly back to Los Angeles after the play ends July 19, Ms. Reilly said she's unsure of her plans and may return to Saint Vincent.

Whatever she decides, she said, she's especially grateful to be at Saint Vincent now. The Rev. Thomas Devereux, the Benedictine monk who founded the theater and a man Ms. Reilly called "a huge part of my childhood," died Saturday. He suffered a stroke about five years ago.

At one time, Ms. Reilly said, he did everything at Saint Vincent Theatre, including selling concessions and seating patrons.

"He was the theater," she said. "I learned so much from him."

"It's a sad time," she said. "But I'm so happy to have been here. And I know he'd be delighted that we're carrying on with our work, since it was his life's work in so many ways.

"I do wish he could have seen this show, though," she added. "He just loved comedies."