OFF BROADWAY: Tennessee Laughter

Even without a program, theatergoers would have had no trouble figuring out where they were. The scene was clearly the familiar slum section of Williamsburg, Tenn., with its long rows of dusty souls and crumbling emotions tilting crazily against a dusky sky. But there had been changes. In Period of Adjustment, which opened last week at Miami's Coconut Grove Playhouse, Playwright Tennessee Williams repaired no cracking masonry in his familiar dramatic neighborhood, but at least he slapped on a coat of whitewash.

Billed as a "Serious Comedy," Period sounds more like a mad gothic anecdote. A couple of newly weds (Robert...