Download American Playhouse series

27 May 1985

This is a true story based on...
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This is a true story based on transcripts of the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah (Vanessa Redgrave) and her two sisters are put on trial for suspicion of witchcraft. While her sisters are burned at the stake, Sarah is sentanced to a prison term to be served in a box barely large enough for her to lie down in. When she is released, her family name is cleared and all she is given for all she has suffered are three gold sovereigns- coin of the realm at the time.
Abby Williams, the preacher's niece, starts getting into fourtune telling and such unlawful activities, as taught to her by the slave Tituba. Other local girls get into it, and then start acting strange. Abby and the girls eventually start to name local people as 'witches' and blame their sicknesses on witchcraft. Hundreds are accused and sent to jail, though there are many who doubt the truth of the accusations. Among these are three sisters, Mary, Rebecca, and Sarah. All are kept in jail for quite some time, until Mary and Rebecca are found guilty, though they pleaded innocent. They are hanged, and due to over crowding, Sarah is sent to a farm until her hearing. She is kept in utter isolation in a chicken coop, getting very sick and lonely, until family comes to save her. The madness is over, though the clever girls, along with one 'afflicted' mother, first suceeded in giving enough 'evidence' so that 19 people were hanged on the count of witchcraft, and one was pressed to death. The story is told to a court 10 years later by Sarah, wanting to clear the family name. Though they can not immeadeatly decide on guilt, or give her compensation, the three judges do give Sarah 3 symbolic sovereigns, one for each of the lives that had suffered.
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From a short story by Kurt Vonnegut....
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From a short story by Kurt Vonnegut. Christopher Walken is a shy hardware store employee. But whenever he takes a part in a local amateur theater production, he becomes the part completely--while on screen. Susan Sarandon is new in town, a lonely itenerant telephone company employee. On a whim, she auditions for and gets the part of Stella to Walken's Stanley when the theater group does A Streetcar Named Desire. Before anyone realizes the problem, she falls deeply in love with the sexy brute, not knowing what the real man is like.
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