Two decades ago, PBS' AN AMERICAN FAMILY transformed contemporary television with its unvarnished portrayal of a middle-class California family. In 1999, that innovation is expanded in AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY, a new 10-hour documentary series by award-winning filmmaker Jennifer Fox (BEIRUT: THE LAST HOME MOVIE). A daring, dramatic vision of the devotion, hardships and history of an interracial family in Queens, New York, this blend of cinéma vérité footage, original interviews, music and media images promises to challenge American concepts of race, romance and family. AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY, a co-presentation with the Independent Television Service (ITVS), airs on PBS Sunday-Thursday, September 12-16, 1999, 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) in two-hour segments.
AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY centers around Bill Sims and Karen Wilson - a black man and white woman who have struggled for more than 30 years against racial stereotypes and societal prejudices that have tried, sometimes viciously, to divide them. Culled from more than 1,000 hours of original footage, the series chronicles a year-and-a-half in the life of the couple as they work, cope with illness, juggle finances and raise their biracial daughters - Cicily, a 20-year-old senior at Colgate University, and Chaney, a 12-year-old seventh grader. AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY captures the individual and collective experience of three generations on both sides of this American family - from the cotton fields of Georgia to the steel mills of Ohio and into the teeming, ethnically diverse community of Queens, New York.
In addition, scores of interviews with the family, their friends and co-workers shed further light on their history, as well as their perspectives on race, love, parenting, growing up, growing old, identity, culture, drugs, sex, religion, work, money and marriage.
AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY has already been screened to critical acclaim at the 1999 Sundance, Berlin and Nyon film festivals and praised for its cinematic "mixed marriage" of classic cinéma vérité with narrative documentary.
"Welcome to America" (9/12, 9:00 p.m. ET) Against the backdrop of the girls' surprise anniversary dinner for their parents, Karen and Bill reflect on the early, difficult years of their relationship, which began in 1967 when they met at Indian Lake in Ohio and became friends. Their subsequent love affair unleashed a firestorm of community outrage. The family ventures to upstate New York to pick up Cicily at Colgate University, where she's struggling with relationships with fellow students - black and white.
"A Piece of the Puzzle is Missing" (9/12, 10:00 p.m. ET) Cicily prepares for a semester abroad in Nigeria while Bill and Karen contend with conflicting reactions to her imminent departure. Bill is excited about his daughter's visit to the homeland, while Karen worries about her safety. After severe hemorrhaging, Karen is hospitalized and copes with the prospect of a hysterectomy if experimental drugs fail to solve her problem. Bill flies to Ohio for a performance that doesn't go well. Back in Queens, Cicily's first phone call comes in from Africa.
"I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up" (9/13, 9:00 p.m. ET) Cicily's semester abroad in Nigeria spotlights her continuing struggle with racial identity and social loyalties. To her disappointment, this emerges as the central theme of her trip to Africa. She is stuck in the middle between black classmates who criticize her friendships with whites and whites who are offended by their black classmates ignoring them and resenting their presence on the trip. The blacks are further angered by second-class treatment from their African hosts. Cicily finds comfort in her first love, a young Nigerian man who is taunted by his friends for being with a "white" woman.
"It's Another New Year and I Ain't Gone" (9/13, 10:00 p.m. ET) A more mature Cicily, with a new Afro-centric sensibility, returns to New York. She becomes increasingly withdrawn, sensing that her parents don't fully comprehend her feelings and experiences. But family discord dissolves when it's discovered that Cicily has malaria. As Christmas approaches, Bill's parents arrive from Ohio for the holidays. Cicily is home from the hospital by New Year's Eve and family and friends celebrate together.
"Chaney & the Boy" (9/14, 9:00 p.m. ET) Bill and Karen are continuously confronted with changes in their quickly growing children. Cicily returns to Colgate University for her final year. Chaney, at the young age of 12, has found her first boyfriend and wants to date - an issue over which Bill and Karen are at odds. Bill's impulse is to protect his "baby" from boys, while Karen is swept up in Chaney's girlish excitement.
"The Devil You Know" (9/14, 10:00 p.m. ET) Back at school, Cicily finds herself further ostracized by the black community on campus, but after her experience in Africa she feels less able to relate to her white classmates. She struggles to understand who she is and to find her place in a world defined by categories that don't include her. Karen travels alone to Florida for a visit with her mother in an all-white neighborhood. Karen realizes that the decisions each of them has made in marriage (her mother remarried after the death of Karen's father) have taken them into separate worlds.
"True Love" (9/15, 9:00 p.m. ET) Cicily's graduation is just weeks away and Karen is determined to attend. She decides to abandon her drug therapy and have a hysterectomy - a decision that prompts anxiety, insecurity and sadness about her inability to have more children, as well as her future as a woman and a wife. Bill nurses Karen back to health and also cares for Chaney. The family proudly honors Cicily, the first college graduate from either side of the family.
"Marion Truth" (9/15, 10:00 p.m. ET) Bill returns to his hometown, Marion, Ohio, after Alton, his son from a former relationship, is arrested on drug charges. Bill was a teenager when he fathered his first children and he grapples with guilt about the son and daughter he left behind. He revisits the streets of his childhood in a now-disintegrated black community, noting "there is no more black culture." Many of his family and old friends now either work at the nearby prison or have served time there - a fate Bill narrowly escaped and one from which he was unable to save his son.
"It's My Job" (9/16, 9:00 p.m. ET) Cicily is shocked by the responsibilities of adult life. She returns home from school to find that Chaney has taken over the room they once shared, her college loans must soon be paid and she has to find a job. Bill and Cicily, at home together after four years apart, continuously get on each other's nerves. Bill, discouraged by his flagging career, drinks more and more. Karen takes the girls away for a weekend at the beach and bolsters Cicily's self esteem. Bill contends with his music career and resolves to give up drinking. Cicily eventually lands a job.
"We Were Never Ozzie and Harriet" (9/16, 10:00 p.m. ET) Bill accompanies Karen to her 25th high school reunion, a journey fraught with anxiety for both of them. For the first time in years, they confront many of the people who ostracized and tormented them when their relationship began. The trip back to Ohio prompts much thought and discussion about the past and the joyful and painful events that led to Cicily's birth, which cemented their relationship for life. As they visit Karen's father's grave, they are steadfastly resolved that "the two of us will be together 'til the day we die."
AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY is accompanied by extensive educational and community outreach campaigns. The companion book, by New York Times writer Brent Staples, is published by Random House. The soundtrack CD and a Bill Sims CD are available from PBS Records.
Day & time: check with your local station
Underwriters: National Endowment for the Arts, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Fisher Foundation, BBC, ARTE, Eastman Fund, Playboy Foundation, Gund Foundation, Waterman Fund at Philadelphia Foundation, Public Television Viewers, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Producer: Zohe Film Productions. Executive producers: Lindsay Law and Barbara Ludlum. Producer/director/cinematographer: Jennifer Fox. Editor: Jay Freund. Co-producer/sound recordist: Jennifer Fleming. Co-producer: Vickie Kenny. Music: Marcus Miller. Format: CC STEREO. Online: pbs.org
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