By Harry Haun
03 May 2010

It's easy to understand what the director of "Rachel Getting Married" saw in Family Week, another dysfunctional-family comedy. By any other name, it's Claire Getting Rehabbed. "I wasn't thinking in those terms at all, but it was brought to my attention that both pieces share certain themes. And, for someone who loves Chekhov as much as I do, I see why I love these two very different pieces."

Rosemarie DeWitt, the aforementioned Rachel, is cast here as Claire, a patient at a swanky desert rehab clinic recovering from a breakdown. Four months into her treatment, her mother (Kathleen Chalfant), sister (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) and daughter (Sami Gayle) all descend on her with festering domestic-war wounds of their own. It's survival-of-the-loudest time, traditionally a source of fun for Henley.

"Beth's work is always sturdily formatted drama, but there's tremendous originality within the framework," Demme says. "That's another thing the play has in common with "Rachel" and other scripts that have attracted me. I love surprises. I think we in the audience love surprises, so that turns me on as a filmmaker and also as a theatre director."

One new thing for a Henley play: no hominy-grits accent. "Beth has de-regionalized the piece. It was set rather specifically in the South its first go-around, and this time the feeling was 'Let's make this story take place in America, but let's let the energy go on the characters in the story and the themes.' Now it's that much more about all of us. I love the way moving the story to Middle America, wherever that is, makes it more accessible, easier for people to see the piece in a fresh perspective."

Next stop for the unpredictable Demme is also something that hasn't been on the charts before: his first animated feature, "Zeitoun," based on Dave Eggers' nonfiction about one man's experience during and following Hurricane Katrina. It grew out of his ongoing four-year documentary project about survival in New Orleans — another endeavor where his very particular passion has pointed the way.

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(The opening of Family Week was delayed one week, from April 26 to May 4, to allow Demme and cast more time to shape the work. "Jonathan and Beth have been collaborating on Family Week for quite some time now," stated co-artistic director Bernard Telsey. "MCC prides itself on being a laboratory for the development of plays and for artists to explore and experiment with new ideas. We are more than happy to give this production the necessary time for our creative team to continue working on this wonderful play.")