Review
by Colin Thomas
September 16 - 23, 2004
How I Learned to Drive
Director James Fagan Tait and his fellow artists deliver an exquisitely
restrained production of Paula Vogel's intelligent, compassionate,
and frequently funny text. Li'l Bit is 11 when Uncle Peck, the
only father she has known, starts sexually molesting her. Vogel
presents a complex picture of the dangerous intersections between
approval and seduction, liberating sensuality and exploitation--those
corners where a child's need for parental intimacy can be misconstrued
for sexual consent and an adult's past can numb him to the torturous
legacy he's passing on. As Li'l Bit, Eileen Barrett travels from
11 to 40 with transparent honesty.
