Eunice 1982

Across four acts spanning 23 years, Eunice Harper Higgins teams with ambition, love, and family to chase a life she longs to live, even as the world around her pulls her in surprising directions.

1955: young Eunice, Carol Burnett, is thrilled at the prospect of a party with her date Ed Higgins. Her brother Phillip, a fresh college graduate, bursts in with news that he’s headed to New York City to try his hand at writing and must leave that day. Thelma Harper, Vicki Lawrence as their mother, is a whirlwind of worry, trying to pry Carl, Dick Clair, out of the bathroom to stop their son from leaving. An argument on the porch between Ed and Eunice ends in a breakup, and Eunice heads to the party, torn between romance, family pressure, and the lure of a hopeful future.

1963: Ed and Eunice are now married and have two sons, Billy and Bubba. They visit Thelma’s house to see Phillip, who’s visiting from New York and has become a bestselling author of a historical novel. Phillip reveals that a movie producer wants to adapt one of his books for the screen, heightening Eunice’s own dream of acting and joining Phillip in the film world. Carl, who died years earlier, casts a shadow over the family’s longing for connection, while Thelma still yearns to visit his grave. Eunice, who still longs to act, contemplates leaving with Phillip to pursue the film opportunity.

1973: Ed and Eunice are divorced, and Phillip—now a Pulitzer Prize-winning figure visiting from Los Angeles—arrives again. He’s tried his hand with adaptations before, but this time he plans to write a screenplay for a new film. Eunice remains determined to land a role in Phillip’s project. Meanwhile, Bubba has been missing for almost a year, and Eunice’s frantic concern for him adds another layer to her ongoing struggle to shape the life she wants.

1978: Eunice, Phillip, and their sister Ellen return from Thelma’s funeral, and the family gathers to reflect on loss, legacy, and the future. Ed arrives with condolences and hints at reconciliation, revealing he had remarried and had hoped Phillip would invest in his hardware business. Eunice throws Ed out, and tension erupts with Ellen. In a raw moment, Eunice yells out for Thelma in Thelma’s bedroom, while Phillip tells her that the only thing stopping her from the life she desires is herself. Phillip urges Eunice to seize the moment and come to Los Angeles, and she phones Aunt Ina to share her plans. Aunt Ina’s plea to help with her sore back underscores the bittersweet truth: Eunice’s dreams may be within reach, but the path to them is slippery, and the life she imagines for herself may never fully come true.