Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Date: 1989-01-01
Subject: Comedy; Documentary films; Indians of North America
People: Mayo, Lisa; Miguel, Gloria; Miguel, Muriel; Rosen, Bob; Zipp, Jane
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation; Metropolitan Arts, Inc.

Clip Description
"This hybrid musical comedy/documentary traces the life and times of three Native American sisters growing up in Brooklyn. The program combines song and dance reenactments of family and tribal stories with home movies taken over a thirty-year period." -- WGBH press release

Amid both miniature and full-scale sets depicting the family's crowded apartment, details of the lives of the three Miguel daughters and their parents emerge. Often, the narration of the three adult performers overlaps, contradicting and affirming the others' stories. Significant details, such as the birth of the youngest sister and the oldest daughter's marriage and conversion to Judaism, are presented in newsreel style. Other details emerge as anecdotal remembrances -- their father's alcoholism, summers at a beach house, their father's performances of "traditional" Native American ceremonies and dances for tourists, and relatives living off the coast of Panama. At one point, two of the women respond to scenes from the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy film "Rose Marie," which features a Native American dance number, by reenacting a duet between the two. "Sun, Moon, and Feather," which is approximately 26 minutes in length, is both a protest against stereotyping and marginalization, and the very personal story of one family.

In addition to the musical scenes excerpted and reenacted from "Rose Marie," the three women sing an a cappella version of a song entitled, "We Three."

The work is approximately 26 minutes long and was broadcast as a segment of episode 602 (1990), and episode 103 (1991), of "New Television." Produced and directed by Bob Rosen and Jane Zipp.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Sun198.HTML