“The Eccentricities of a Nightingale” was Tennessee Williams’ effort to improve on his “Summer and Smoke.” A lot of ink has been spilled over which play is better, but it really doesn’t matter. Although “Eccentricities” shares some of the characters of its predecessor, it’s a thoroughly different drama and its rich symbolism deserves to be appreciated on its own merits.

“Eccentricities,” currently on view at the American Century Theatre, begins in 1915 in Glorious Hill, Miss. It’s an examination of the culture of a small Southern town and of two people who grow up there: John Buchanan goes off to Johns Hopkins University and becomes a doctor; Alma Winemiller stays at home with her strict pastor father and addle-brained mother and teaches singing.