7:00 pm | $18/ $15 in advance https://howilearnedtodrive.bpt.me | 1hr 30 min, no intermission | R |

Drama Takes on the #MeToo Movement.

The Rosendale Theatre presents HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, a landmark play by Paula Vogel telling the intimate story of one woman’s shocking encounters as she comes of age.

HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel. This award-winning play steers a personal, emotional, and bitingly humorous perspective into the era of #MeToo. HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE was the winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for playwright Paula Vogel, the Tony Award finalist for INDECENT.

Who will believe women when they rise up and use their voices? When recounting a secret from her childhood, the storyteller known only as Li’l Bit jumps forward and backward in time to give the true story of the most unsettling, traumatic, and impactful experiences of her first sexual experiences. Along the way, she gains the power and freedom afforded by driving lessons – even as she shares the car with the man who assaulted her. Set in a corner of rural America that is as recognizable to us now as it was when the play first debuted in 1997, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is as witty as it is moving.

A wildly funny, surprising ,and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is hailed as “a tremendous achievement, genuine and genuinely disturbing…This is, quite simply, the sweetest and most forgiving play ever written about child abuse” by the Village Voice. See why HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is acclaimed by theaters nationwide and recently named one of the contemporary era’s top 25 plays by The New York Times.

Cast members include Janet E. Nurre as Li’l Bit, Brian Petti and Uncle Peck, Tricia Mazzocca as Female Greek Chorus, Neal Knapp as Male Greek Chorus, and Julia Kehrley as Teenage Greek Chorus. HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is directed by Bradley Diuguid and produced by the Rosendale Theatre Collective.

About the Playwright:

Paula Vogel has written HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Pulitzer Prize, New York Drama Critics Award, Obie Award, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and many more.) Other plays include A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS, THE LONG CHRISTMAS RIDE HOME, THE MINEOLA TWINS, HOT ‘N’ THROBBIN, THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, DESDEMONA, AND BABY MAKES SEVEN, and THE OLDEST PROFESSION.

Her plays have been produced by Second Stage, New York Theatre Workshop, the Vineyard Theatre, Roundabout, and Circle Repertory Company. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country at the Center Stage, Intiman, Trinity Repertory, Woolly Mammoth, Huntington Theatre, Magic Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theatre Berkeley Repertory, and Alley Theatres to name a few. Harrogate Theatre and the Donmar Theatre have produced her work in England.

Her plays have been produced in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand as well as translated and produced in Italy, Germany, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, Romania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland Slovenia, Canada, Portugal, France, Greece, Japanese, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and other countries.

John Simon once remarked that Paula Vogel had more awards than a “black sofa collects lint.” Some of these include Induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame, Thornton Wilder Award, Lifetime Achievement from the Dramatists Guild, the William Inge Award, the Elliott Norton Award, two Obies, a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Award, a TCG residency award, a Guggenheim, a Pew Charitable Trust Award, and fellowships and residencies at Sundance Theatre Lab, Hedgebrook, The Rockefeller Center’s Bellagio Center, Yaddo, MacDowell, and the Bunting.

But she is particularly proud of her Thirtini Award from 13P, and honored by three Awards in her name: the Paula Vogel Award for playwrights given by The Vineyard Theatre, the Paula Vogel Award from the American College Theatre Festival, and the Paula Vogel mentorship program, curated by Quiara Hudes and Young Playwrights of Philadelphia.