Yeah, your little sister drove you nuts when you were kids, always borrowing your favorite sweater and using your expensive makeup. And maybe your older brother made Chet from Weird Science seem like Mother Theresa; big bro extorted money and used your stomach as a punching bag.

But now that we’re all older and calmer, siblings evolve from annoying pests and terrifying bullies into (gasp!) good friends. A performance that embodies this friendship between siblings, namely, sisters, is opening this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Des Moines Playhouse.

Fans of real-life stories — from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn to Brighton Beach Memoirs — of American households will wax nostalgic over The Sisters Rosensweig. “In real general terms, it’s about love and family and relationships,” said Lee Ann Bakros, marketing and publicity director for the playhouse. “If people are familiar with Neil Simon’s work, Wendy Wasserstein has been compared to him. Some say she’s the female Neil Simon.”

Wasserstein, who also wrote The Heidi Chronicles that was made into a made-for-TV series with Jamie Lee Curtis, is known for her candid and frank look at the relationships between parents and children and siblings. And while there may be a lot of harsh moments, she also infuses a lot of laughter into her work. “There are certainly some warmth and tough things under that, but there’s also humor,” Bakros said.

A highlight of this particular performance is definitely the cast. Theater buffs will recognize a few faces on the stage of The Sisters Rosensweig performance. They are all talented individuals from the Des Moines area, including several young people, who also dabble in professional acting.

“All actors and actresses are incredible and very familiar to the audience,” Bakros said. “If you’ve seen a play in the last three years, you’ve seen at least one of these faces. They’re all local, all volunteer, although several in the cast work professionally in theater.”

The Sisters Rosensweig opens Friday at 8 p.m. Additional performances are 8 p.m. Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Nov. 1-4 and Nov. 8-11; and 2 p.m. Nov 5 and Nov. 12. The Des Moines Playhouse is located at 831 42nd St.

Tickets cost $14 for Friday and Saturday shows and $13 for all others, but poor college students can save big bucks (50 percent) by showing their student IDs. Tickets are available at the Playhouse box office or by phone at 277-6261.