Lillian Hellman’s The Autumn Garden, now being staged at American Century Theater, is a slow-moving but well-executed drama with enough moments of humor and truth to complement a lazy, reflective Sunday afternoon.

The play is set in a summer home near New Orleans, where Constance (Deborah Rinn Critzer) is staying, along with the Ellis family of Carrie (Jan Boulet), son Frederick (Joshua Drew) and mother Mary (Linda High), among others. Constance’s niece Sophie (Maura Stadem) also inhabits the house, and is engaged to be married to Frederick. Things seem to be proceeding relatively to plan until the narcissistic Nicholas Denery (Jim Jorgensen) sweeps into town with his wife Nina (Mary McGowan). Denery’s an old flame of Constance’s, but he manages to meddle into not just her life, but the lives of most of those who wander in and out of the residence.

As Denery, Jorgensen succeeds at communicating the character’s self-involvement and general sliminess rather well, but something about the performance seems out of step. Jorgensen seems bravely committed to the role, but the whole effect is a little too whiny, a little too flamboyant, to be believed. Perhaps it doesn’t help that he’s frequently opposite the subperb McGowan, who takes her role as Jorgensen’s wife and lends her a pristine air, a dry wit and brief flashes of sensuality, when the character easily could appear rather prudish and unlikeable.