The new play had an entertainingly over-the-top premise (elderly Mom booby-traps her apartment with Molotov cocktails to Sonny can’t send her to a nursing home), two skilled stage actors (Stephen Spinella and the 86-year-old Estelle Parsons), and excellent audience and critical response from its run at Arena Stage in D.C. Yet it closed after a month, despite a Tony nomination for Parsons.