Tom Donaghy, who explored the broken lives of a dysfunctional family over the course of decades in Northeast Local last season at Lincoln Center, is taking a different approach to family life in his latest play.

Minutes From the Blue Route at the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York, focuses on a family over a single weekend when the selling of their home throws each of its four members into a panic about the future. The play has been described as "a comedy with dramatic underpinnings." (The Blue Route, for those not in the know, happens to be a highway in Pennsylvania.) O y scheduled to run through Feb. 22, the show has been extended ("due to popular demand" says production spokesperson Janet George) to March 15.

The four members of the family--and cast--are Elizabeth Franz (the original Sister Mary Ignatius . . . and the mother in Brighton Beach Memoirs), Matt McGrath (of last season's A Fair Country), Catherine Kellner (from TV's "High Incident"), and Stephen Mendillo (Broadway's Orpheus Descending and Ah, Wilderness!). (Peter Maloney had been previously announced for the Mendillo role).

David Warren, who directed the most recent revivals of Holiday and Summer and Smoke and specializes in Nicky Silver plays (Pterodactyls, Raised in Captivity, The Food Chain, Fit To Be Tied), will helm the piece.

Sets are by Derek McLane, costumes by Mark Wendland, lighting by Donald Holder and sound by John Gromada. Formed by David Mamet and William H. Macy in 1985, the Atlantic Theatre Company has since produced over 75 plays for stage and radio et productions include Edmond, Missing Persons, Distant Fires and The Lights.

Minutes From the Blue Route will run to March 15 at the Atlantic Theatre's home on West 20th St. For tickets ($32) and information call (212) 239-6200.

-- By Harry Haun and David Lefkowitz