The Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 11

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

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   #1 - Surviving Desire

   S11:E11/22/1992

   A literature professor falls for a student, leading to a relationship that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally fraught, paralleling the Dostoevsky-inspired themes he lectures on.

   Director:Hal Hartley

   Writer:Hal Hartley

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   Director:Hal Hartley

   Writer:Hal Hartley
2. 

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   #2 - The Feud

   S11:E22/26/1992

   In 1950s upstate New York, what begins as a trivial hardware store argument over a lit cigar and a non-smoking policy spirals into a bizarre, full-scale feud between neighboring communities. Despite growing tensions—and an eventual suspicious fire—the situation is heavily laced with dark comedy, as well as a Shakesperean-esque romance between the children of the warring sides.

   Director:Bill D'Elia

   Writers:Bill D'Elia, Robert Uricola

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   Director:Bill D'Elia

   Writers:Bill D'Elia, Robert Uricola
3. 

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   #3 - Fool's Fire

   S11:E33/25/1992

   A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester under a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love, the jester plots a terrible revenge.

   Director:Julie Taymor

   Writer:Julie Taymor

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   Director:Julie Taymor

   Writer:Julie Taymor
4. 

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   #4 - Mrs. Cage

   S11:E45/20/1992

   Feeling insignificant, a housewife witnesses a murder in a parking lot, shoots the killer, and then turns herself in, leading to an interrogation that reveals her inner turmoil.

   Director:Robert Allan Ackerman

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Robert Allan Ackerman

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

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   #5 - Daughters of the Dust

   S11:E57/22/1992

   In 1902, a Gullah family on the Sea Islands off South Carolina decide whether to migrate to the mainland, risking their unique cultural heritage.

   Director:Julie Dash

   Writer:Julie Dash

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   Director:Julie Dash

   Writer:Julie Dash
6. 

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   #6 - Tales from Hollywood

   S11:E610/19/1992

   Young playwright Ödön von Horváth joins a colony of German artists who fled the Nazis in Los Angeles, observing their struggles and compromises.

   Director:Carlos Ávila

   Writers:Edit Villarreal, Carlos Ávila

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   Director:Carlos Ávila

   Writers:Edit Villarreal, Carlos Ávila
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7. 

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   #7 - Strangers in Good Company

   S11:E711/11/1992

   A busload of women become stranded in an isolated part of the Canadian countryside. As they await rescue, they reflect on their lives through a mostly ad-libbed script.

   Director:Cynthia Scott

   Writers:Cynthia Scott, David Wilson, Sally Bochner, Gloria Demers

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   Director:Cynthia Scott

   Writers:Cynthia Scott, David Wilson, Sally Bochner, Gloria Demers
8. 

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   #8 - 84 Charlie Mopic

   S11:E811/18/1992

   An Army cameraman is embedded with a reconnaissance patrol and charts their mission across territory controlled by the North Vietnamese.

   Director:Patrick Sheane Duncan

   Writer:Patrick Sheane Duncan

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   Director:Patrick Sheane Duncan

   Writer:Patrick Sheane Duncan
9. 

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   #9 - Tru

   S11:E911/23/1992

   Isolated in his apartment, Truman Capote deals with the crisis of his friends turning on him following the publication of an excerpt from Answered Prayers.

   Directors:Kirk Browning, Jay Presson Allen

   Writer:Jay Presson Allen

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   Directors:Kirk Browning, Jay Presson Allen

   Writer:Jay Presson Allen
10. 

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    #10 - Thank You and Good Night

    S11:E1011/30/1992

    Blending humor and tragedy, filmmaker Jan Oxenberg goes on a personal journey to process the aging and death of her grandmother.

    Director:Jan Oxenberg

    Writer:Jan Oxenberg

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    Director:Jan Oxenberg

    Writer:Jan Oxenberg
11. 

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    #11 - Straight Out of Brooklyn

    S11:E111/20/1993

    Larry, a troubled teen living in the rough Red Hook section of Brooklyn, decides he wants out and turns to crime to fund his escape. But his plan involves scamming the neighborhood's biggest drug kingpin, a heist that's dangerous at best.

    Director:Matty Rich

    Writer:Matty Rich

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    Director:Matty Rich

    Writer:Matty Rich
12. 

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    #12 - Fires in the Mirror

    S11:E124/28/1993

    Actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith performs a series of 29 different roles related to the Crown Heights riot in 1991. Anonymous and famous figures are portrayed by Smith, expressing pain and anger on the many sides of a conflict involving the Black and Jewish communities over an accident, a crime, and the riots.

    Director:George C. Wolfe

    Writer:Anna Deavere Smith

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    Director:George C. Wolfe

    Writer:Anna Deavere Smith
13. 

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    #13 - In the Wings: Angels in America on Broadway

    S11:E136/11/1993

    Includes production meetings, rehearsals and performances, as well as interviews with New York cast members prior to the May 1993 Broadway opening of 'Millennium Approaches', the first half of the play.

    Director:Tom Bywaters

    Writer:Tom Bywaters

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    Director:Tom Bywaters

    Writer:Tom Bywaters
14. 

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    #14 - La carpa

    S11:E146/16/1993

    Along the US–Mexico border, a young, shy laborer, after witnessing the tragic slaying of his best friend, is transformed by the spirit of a traveling Mexican carpa (tent theatre troupe).

    Director:Carlos Ávila

    Writers:Edit Villarreal, Carlos Ávila

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    Director:Carlos Ávila

    Writers:Edit Villarreal, Carlos Ávila
15. 

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    #15 - Porgy and Bess

    S11:E1510/6/1993

    In the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a Black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels via a goat-drawn cart, loves drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.

    Director:Trevor Nunn

    Writer:DuBose Heyward

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    Director:Trevor Nunn

    Writer:DuBose Heyward
16. 

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    #16 - The Quarrel

    S11:E1611/29/1993

    In 1948 Montreal, on Rosh Hashanah, writer Chaim Kovler is forced to reflect on his religion when asked to be the tenth in a minyan. At the park, he suddenly sees an old friend whom he hasn't seen since they quarrelled when they were at Yeshiva together. Hersh Rasseyner, a rabbi, survived Auschwitz and his faith was strengthened by the ordeal, while Chaim escaped the Nazis, but had lost his faith long before. The two walk, reminisce, and argue passionately about themselves, their actions, their lives, their religion, their old quarrel, and their friendship.

    Director:Eli Cohen

    Writer:David Brandes

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    Director:Eli Cohen

    Writer:David Brandes
17. 

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    #17 - Hallelujah

    S11:E1712/22/1993

    As Christmas at the Messiah Church in Washington D.C. approaches, a young preacher and, later in the day, a mysterious pregnant girl arrive at the church doors looking to begin new lives. Reverend Oliver Crawford is not the judgmental committee's first choice; an unwed father of a teenage son, he is given only two days to prove his worth. Meanwhile, pregnant 16-year-old Katherine has arrived in the area fleeing an abusive home and seeking a grandfather she doesn't know. With the help of local homeless advocate 'Big' Willie Thorton, Crawford attempts to revive the spirit of the church and provide solace to the displaced girl.

    Director:Charles Lane

    Writer:Michael Genet

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    Director:Charles Lane

    Writer:Michael Genet