How I Learned to Drive keeps me up at night. The first time I read it, it terrified me. It still does, in a lot of ways. I recognized something of myself in Li’l Bit – the desire to move on from pain without forgetting the ways it shaped me. During the final weeks of rehearsal for this production, I had the incredible opportunity to talk with Paula Vogel herself. (She was driving at the time, in fact.) I asked her what the next steps were – if this play shows us a community that won’t protect a child, how can we create a community that will?  She answered immediately. She said, we make space to discuss sexual violence. We comfort those who have been hurt. And we look at our friends and family and say, “If you have something to tell me, I will listen. And I will believe you. And I will tell you it’s not your fault.”

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director: Nina Goodheart
Producer: Samuel Bennett
Stage Manager: Liana Van Nostrand
Set Designer: Elizabeth Kingsley
Lighting Designer: Okoduwa Aboiralor
Projections Designer: Aparna Nair-Kanneganti
Props Designer: Muriel Wang
Dramaturg: Eve Sneider

Videographer: Andrew Schmidt

CAST

Li’l Bit: Marianna Gailus
Uncle Peck: Daniel Rudin
Female Greek Chorus: Lilla Brody
Male Greek Chorus: Hershel Holiday
Teenage Greek Chorus: Awa Franklin