How I Learned to Drive

In a mix of comedy and tragedy, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive tells the story of Li’l Bit and her romantic, sometimes sexual, relationship with her Uncle Peck as she ages from eleven to thirty-one years old. By avoiding the expected condemnation and incorporating comical elements and live singing, the play keeps its center focused on the basic struggles of humanity that bind these two characters. It’s deeper story, without teachin’ or preachin’, creates a masterful, heart-felt and compelling investigation of how Adult/preteen sex and seduction can evolve and how it can contaminate the healthy integration of our psychological and sexual selves. This results in an ongoing (often lifelong) inner struggle that keeps the person hidden in the role of the childlike observer.

With a beautiful, mesmerizing theatricality, How I Learned to Drive lets audiences experience the resultant human drama. Alternately terrified and intrigued/seduced by the nurturant, yet erotic, allure, the child becomes victim as well as unwitting temptress. When a kind, pathetic, also abused adult – without conscious malice – crosses the line from fantasy to behavior, he misguidedly attempts to quell his own dark, ancient, fiery wounds by experiencing a sense of calm, yet decadent, well-being through the “love” of an innocent. It is the story of two lost souls who find themselves trapped, with only morally reprehensible means to seek redemption.

Recommended For Mature Audiences Only.