Samm-Art Williams' celebrated 1979 play, Home, currently being revived at Signature Theatre as part of its season devoted to the Negro Ensemble Company, doesn't entirely hold up; the first 20 minutes feel busy and aimless until the playwright introduces some dramatic tension, and in the final 20 minutes, the playwright resolves all conflicts far too neatly. But the hour in between is often wonderful thanks to Williams' heightened, stylized language that flows as melodiously as music -- and Ron O.J. Parson's sensitive direction fully embraces the work's lyrical texture.

The story is not unlike a fable which offers the hope that you can indeed go home again. In this case, home is a house and[...]