How I Learned to Drive was written by Paula Vogel and premiered
March 16th, 1997 at the Vineyard Theatre in New York City. She
received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this play in 1998. Other awards that
it won include, the Drama Desk Award, the Obie Award, the Lucille Lortel Award,
the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award.
Paula Vogel was born in
Washington D.C. on November 16, 1951. She attended Cornell University and taught Women Studies and
Theatre Arts there as well during the mid-1970s. She was fired from Cornell in
1982 for political reasons. At Brown University, Vogel was the head of the
graduate playwriting program and created a center of educational theatre known
as the Brown/Trinity Repertory Company. She later became Trinity’s artistic
director in 2002. She currently works at Yale School of Drama as a professor
and serves as the Chair of the playwriting program. Vogel has been a playwright
for over 40 years, gaining national attention with The Baltimore Waltz, which won the Obie Award for Best Play in
1992. The Baltimore Waltz deals with
the AIDS crisis, which personally affected Vogel as she lost her brother Carl
to the disease in 1988. It is a common characteristic of Vogel’s style to have
her writing reflect what has made an emotional impact on her life. She also uses the emotions of the
characters as the basis of her plays working up to plot and structure
afterwards. Some of her other work includes Desdemona,
A Play About A Handkerchief, The
Oldest Profession, And Baby Makes
Seven, Hot ‘N Throbbing, and The Mineola Twins.
How I Learned to Drive deals with the themes of incest, pedophilia
and misogyny through the 7 year relationship between a teenage Lil’ Bit and her
older uncle-by-marriage, Peck. The play begins with a grown up Lil’ Bit looking
back at her relationship with Uncle Peck with anachronistic memories from the
time she was 11 to 18 years of age. All the while there are educational driving
messages being delivered, at times from the Greek Chorus, who also play all
other roles in Lil’ Bit’s story. When the play premiered Mary-Louis Parker
played Lil’ Bit and David Morse played Peck. The most recent version of the
play was performed in 2012 on the Second Stage Theatre in New York City making
it 15 years since the last professional production. The cast consisted of
Elizabeth Reaser as Lil’ Bit and Norbert Leo Butz as Peck. How I Learned to Drive received great reviews each time.
1. A
note in the script says Uncle Peck should be cast with someone fit to play
Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird.
Why do you believe this is important to state? What would having that type of
character accomplish?
2. Why
do you think Vogel chose to have memories be anachronistic? What is the benefit
of that? How would it differ from having told the story in chronological order?
3. What
do you think was the basis for Uncle Peck’s affectionate relationship with Lil
Bit, love or lust?
4. What
is the purpose of having the Greek Chorus and why do you think the playwright
reverted back to that method?
5. Do
you believe Lil Bit ever instigates Uncle Peck’s behavior towards her?
6. What
is the purpose of having the educational driving messages between the scenes?
What kind of feeling does that create?
7. Aunt
Mary admits that she knows something is going on between Uncle Peck and Lil
Bit. What does this say about the family? Was this a surprising revelation?
8. Lil
Bit asks Uncle Peck in the hotel room on pg. 86 “Who did this to you Uncle
Peck. How old where you?” This suggests that Uncle Peck may have had a similar
relationship in his adolescences. Does that seem feasible? How would it change
your perspective of Uncle Peck?
9. The
grandmother holds the mother responsible and she in turn hold Lil’ Bit
responsible for their mistakes with men at a young age. Is this reasonable? Are
they passing off guilt? What does it say about the women in this world?
10. What does
the car symbolize to Lil Bit? Why do you believe that she decides to keep its
gender a woman?
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