How I Learned to Drive

How I Learned to Drive
Written by	Paula Vogel
Characters	Li'l Bit Uncle Peck Male Greek Chorus Female Greek Chorus Teenage Greek Chorus
Date premiered	March 16, 1997
Place premiered	Vineyard Theatre New York City, United States
Original language	English
Genre	Drama

How I Learned to Drive is a play written by the American playwright Paula Vogel. The play was premiered on March 16, 1997, off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. Vogel received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. It was written and developed at the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, with Molly Smith as artistic director.

The story follows the strained, sexual relationship between Li'l Bit and her aunt's husband, Uncle Peck, from her adolescence through her teenage years into college and beyond. Using the metaphor of driving and the issues of pedophilia, incest, and misogyny, the play explores the ideas of control and manipulation.

The play tells the story of a woman nicknamed Li'l Bit as she comes to terms with her sexually abusive relationship with her Uncle Peck throughout her adolescence. Aside from Li'l Bit and Uncle Peck, a Greek Chorus of three is on hand to play all of the other characters in their lives. The script is a memory play told largely out of chronological order, with the first scene taking place in 1969 in a "parking lot outlooking Rural Maryland". Li'l Bit is seventeen years old and sitting in her Uncle Peck's car. Peck uses this opportunity to unhook her brassiere through her shirt, an act that Li'l Bit finds uncomfortable. Li'l Bit mentions how she is graduating high school and going to a "fancy college" in the fall, while Uncle Peck continues to admire her body.

Li'l Bit breaks from this scene to give an oral history on her immediate family. She explains that her family's penchant for handing out nicknames based on genitalia is why she was branded with the alias Li'l Bit for life. This includes her alcoholic mother, the "titless wonder", her misogynistic grandfather "Big Papa", her submissive grandmother, and her young Cousin BB (Blue Balls). A typical family dinner in 1969 has Li'l Bit's family (played by the three Greek Chorus members) cracking jokes about how "well endowed" she is. Here, the audience is shown that Peck is the only family member who supports Li'l Bit's dreams of going to school. When a frustrated Li'l Bit leaves the dinner after Grandfather goes too far with his insults, Peck's wife Mary (Li'l Bit's maternal aunt) asks him to comfort her, showing that she is ignorant of his abuse.

...
Wikipedia