When Jules Feiffer wrote “Little Murders” in 1967, he could have given it a subtitle: “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Era.” The play was a function of its time, and that time was out of joint. Violence was on the rise in America and in New York City, where “Little Murders” is set, so it doesn’t seem at all strange that the beginning of “Little Murders” introduces us to one of the first modern dysfunctional families on the verge of a nervous breakdown, while its ending shows that family gone utterly berserk. Currently playing at the American Century Theater, Feiffer’s play does not appear dated at all. Indeed, sadly, the city it portrays is not substantially different from many American urban centers in 2012. Its characters complain of stuck elevators, random shootings, air pollution. And they know that their optimistic dreams — of playing tennis and having friends and going skiing — probably won’t happen.

Director Ellen Dempsey fortunately steers the production away from too realistic a portrayal of the Newquists, Marjorie and her husband, Carol, and their children Patsy and Kenny, though she could have taken the production even further from reality.