How I Learned to Drive

I loved this play and saw it at Trinity Rep many years ago. I still think about it.

How I Learned to Drive is a play written by American playwright Paula Vogel. The play 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, Juneau, Alaska, Molly Smith, 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.

Li'l Bit grows up in rural Maryland during the 1960s with a large extended family: her mother, who became pregnant at a young age; her grandmother, a God-fearing former child-bride; her ignorant, sexist grandfather; her Uncle Peck, who has been affected by experiences in combat and is a recovering alcoholic; and Aunt Mary, who is in denial of her husband's behavior.

In 1962, when Li'l Bit is 11, Uncle Peck gives her a driving lesson, during which he molests her. Li'l Bit is too young to understand what has happened and, while her mother suspects that Peck has an unhealthy interest in his niece, she does nothing about it.

Years pass and Li'l Bit enters puberty. Though she is quite intelligent, her classmates recognize her only for her large breasts. Peck continues to molest her, at one point using his amateur photo studio to take provocative pictures of her. Though he makes her uncomfortable, Peck is the only member of her family who is nice to her and supportive of her plans to go to college. He continues to give Li'l Bit driving lessons, and when she drives she develops a feeling of control that she does not have in her home life.

Peck attempts to convince Li'l Bit to have sex with him, but Li'l Bit rejects his advances, albeit reluctantly; since they are both "outsiders" in their family, she feels an odd kinship with him. Li'l Bit goes to college, and is surprised to receive gifts from Uncle Peck in the mail, along with letters counting down to her eighteenth birthday.

When she turns eighteen, she confronts Uncle Peck. He has been hoping to finally have sex with her now that she is a legal adult, but more than that, he wants her to marry him. Li'l Bit refuses and permanently severs their relationship.

Narrating as an adult, Li'l Bit reveals that she was eventually expelled from college and that Uncle Peck drank himself to death. Li'l Bit admits that she wishes that she could ask Uncle Peck about his life. She wonders who violated him to make him this way. This gives her a sense of forgiveness for his wrongdoings. She concludes that he did give her something valuable: the freedom she feels only when she drives.

The play is told through a series of flashbacks under the guise of driving lessons. Only Li'l Bit and Uncle Peck are full characters; all other family members are represented with the Female Greek Chorus, Teenage Greek Chorus, and Male Greek Chorus. The only family member not represented in the choruses is BB (or Bobby), Li'l Bit's cousin. The script alludes to BB's death during a fishing lesson with Uncle Peck.

Source.