Based on the play, "Dead," by David Abolafia, which was written in 1992.
In the scene where Jack (Aaron Ioshpe) is drilling his mother (Alana Opie) with flash cards, the third card reads "Krakatoa," which is an in-joke at the director's expense. "What is Krakatoa?" was the correct question to the Final Jeopardy answer that David Abolafia got wrong on April 21, 2004, ending his run as champion on the game show ":Jeopardy!"
The scene where Jack's Mother (Alana Opie) is chopping vegetables was filmed the day before Passover. The vegetables she chopped went into the soup that the director and his family ate the next night.