New York, NY, Stage Manager at The Democracy Project Lil Bit has clearly been concerned about Pecks motives for doing the shoot, and here he forgets his story. Startled by how unhinged her uncle has become, Li'l Bit arranges a meeting in a Philadelphia hotel room on December 10, 1969. In a monologue, Uncle Peck gives the unseen Cousin BB a fishing lesson, where it is strongly . When he sayshe wants to send the photos toPlayboyonce she turns18,LilBit objects, saying she thought the photos were just for him. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. The play doesnt sink with the gravity of its subject matter; it finds moments of levity without minimizing the tragic parts of the story. The interjection from the male chorus offers a viewpoint that crops up throughout the play: that a woman is always responsible for everything that happens to her. She then flashes back to when, at11years old, she took a long car ride with Uncle Peck. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Read more. Soon after, they are in a fancy hotel room. The play premiered on March 16, 1997, Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. Li'l Bit reveals that she eventually lost her scholarship and was expelled from college because of a drinking problem. Except her doting uncle is actually a pedophile who begins grooming his niece when shes 11. The action switches to a driving lesson given to Lil Bit by Peck. Lil Bit is too young to take responsibility for what happens when she spends time with a middle-aged man. But she intends this as an excuse for Peck, instead placing the burden of responsibility solely on Lil Bitwhich is obviously incorrect. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring Her grandfather, played by the male chorus, makes lewd jokes about the size of her breasts. The mother fell pregnant at an early age and had a bad relationship with the Lil Bits father. Li'l Bit becomes confused as to how Peck could abuse her while still being helpful. The character is a highly intelligent and conflicted one. The next flashback takes place in a fancy restaurant in 1968. Drinking, says the voice, should be done on a mans termslike so many other things in the play. Peck is, on the surface of it, a good man. It also illuminates how women are molded and manipulated not only by their abusers but by society at-large. Li'l Bit yells at Uncle Peck for becoming so possessive, while he insists that his niece is the love of his life. First he lost his job, then his wife and finally his drivers license. This is a good monologue for a teenage or young adult female. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The scenes jump. He may not violently force Lil Bit to do things against her will, but he undoubtedly coerces her psychologically. Instant PDF downloads. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring "[10] This critically acclaimed production was directed by Terry Schreiber and received 10 New York Innovative Theatre (NYIT) Award nominations. How I Learned to Drive. Li'l Bit drunkenly kisses her uncle, but Peck refuses to go any further until she coherently says otherwise. At this point, the female chorus jumps in as Aunt Mary, Pecks wife. Even at this early age, Lil Bit is aware of a potential sexual element that she is keen to prevent. The play moves on to On Men, Sex and Women: Part II. This time. Were you eleven? She imagines his spirit as a kind of Flying Dutchman, driving the Carolina backroads looking for a young girl who, of her own free will, will love him. Vogel, Paula. LIL BIT. The Stage Manger, Lemml PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. This is how the driving lessons begin. One is in the foreground: the dance. [] Sometimes I feel like these alien life forces, these two mounds of flesh have grafted themselves onto my chest, and theyre using me until they can propagate and take over the world and theyll just keep growing, with a mind of their own, until I collapse under their weight and they suck all the nourishment out of my body and I finally just waste away while they get bigger and bigger and---. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. The transition to this 1967 scene is made possible by Vogels use of the Greek choruses, which allow her to jump suddenlybut seamlesslybetween different points in time and space. When Peck proposes to her,LilBit reiterates that she cant see him. [12] Ebelin Ortiz directed. Like youre being looked at all the time? Some brilliant monologues and one liners in there! Its rare to encounter the kind of breathless silence I experienced during an unnerving hotel room scene in the unforgettable revival of Paula Vogels How I Learned to Drive.. David Morse and Mary-Louise Parker in Paula Vogels play How I Learned to Drive, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in Manhattan. Peck uses his position as a father figure to keep Lil Bit on his side. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Her mother is resistant to the idea, not trusting Pecks motives, but Lil Bit insists she can handle him. These, too, cause Lil Bit confusion: she likens her breasts to hostile alien life forces and radio transmitters, sending out siren-like signals to men in order to attract them to dash themselves on these rocks. At the school dance, Lil Bit refuses to join in any of the fast numbers, afraid that the boys just want to see her jiggling.. Framing the narrative like this underlines the extent to which Lil Bits trauma and memories are linked to learning to drivewith her Uncle Peck. Family is family may be a tautological phrase, but that doesnt make it meaningless. Peck is constantly trying to legitimize his behavior. The script is a memory play told largely out of chronological order, with the first scene taking place in 1969 in a parking lot in rural Maryland. "[20], The CurtainUp reviewer of the original 1997 Off-Broadway production wrote: "Ms. Vogel has achieved the seemingly impossible: A story about a disturbing subject, pedophilia, that is as funny--yes, really,--as it is disturbing. Theres a strong sense of coercion here, too. The female choruss mention of Uncle Peck is intentionally grotesque, underscoring the inappropriateness of his sexual attraction to his niece. Using the metaphor of driving and the issues of pedophilia, incest, and misogyny, the play explores the ideas of control and manipulation. a free resource created by Gabriel Davis to support those seeking audition material. How I Learned to Drive. Directed by Mark Brokaw. She once again retreats to Peck when an argument erupts. By saving the first occasion of abuse for the end of the play, Vogel reframes what has come before. L.A. Theatre Works produced an audio performance of the play, starring Glenne Headly, Randall Arney, Joy Gregory, Paul Mercier, and Rondi Reed. The scene turns to when she is15years old andisasking her grandmother and mother whether sex hurts for the first time. (including. [] You havent heard the Mary Jane jokes? The image of Big Papa chasing Grandma reinforces the earlier idea that sex is an animalistic activity between predator and prey. She smiles at him, and floors it. [4] The Vineyard Theatre production, in association with Daryl Roth and Roy Gabay, moved to the Century Theatre in April 1997. In this, it is strongly implied that Peck sexually abuses his young relative. Instant PDF downloads. The 1950s pop music accompanying Li'l Bit's excursion down memory lane cannot drown out the ghosts of her past. Feelings which she is ashamed of and horrify her but she can't seem to shake. I wish I could have seen Parker and Morse 25 years ago, first stepping into these roles. Peck makes sexually-suggestive comments toLilBit, but when she tells him to [b]e good (10), he feigns innocence. It is Christmas in 1964. How I Learned to DriveThrough May 29 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan; manhattantheatreclub.com. The next vignette begins with the off-stage voice saying, Were You Prepared?. Report DMCA. Aunt Mary is Uncle Peck 's wife the sister of Li'l Bit's mother. The title of this scene as introduced by present-day Lil Bit is intentionally comic. He also reminds the viewer that his sexual desires are specifically nubile, implying that he prefers a thirteen-year-old body over a twenty-year-olds (which itself is a youthful age). "[3] Brantley, in his The New York Times review of the 2012 Second Stage production, wrote: The production opened February 13, 2012 and was favorably reviewed by The New York Times. But this dynamic is twisted by the sexualization of their relationshipwhich is why they switch roles here, with Lil Bit playing the moral authority and Peck, for want of a better word, flirting. Struggling with distance learning? Notes: Paula Vogel is a brilliant writer with mountains of wit and this monologue is a prime illustration of that. Pecks actions towards Lil Bit reverberate through time. Michele Lowe has the ability tobring humorout of well-drawnmoments filled with vulnerability and pain. In a roundabout way, she has a good point: that trauma can beget trauma if isnt handled well. [17] However, in the wake of the 2019-20 coronavirus epidemic and The Broadway League's subsequent closure of all Broadway performances until June 7, 2020, the production was postponed indefinitely, with hopes to return the following season. How I Learned to Drive, a play written by Paula Vogel, premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. This monologue, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor youth in the.! THE STORY: 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. I would have liked to have been in the audience of unsuspecting people who may have crossed the threshold of the theater not knowing what to expect not knowing theyd paid to see a searing tale of sexuality and abuse. A woman observes a man hanging onto his sanity by a thread. She claims that he is a good man, and that it is all Li'l Bit's fault for leading him on. By the end of the scene, he is asking if he can kiss her breasts, at her hesitation,telling her, Dont make a grown man beg (11). He gives her good, solid advice on how to drive, though also insists that she needs to drive like a man, because women are too fatally hesitant. Pecks comparison of Lil Bits breasts to cathedrals is a suggestion of the primacy of being youngto him, no cultural achievements can match the body of a beautiful teenager. After he kneels and proposes to Li'l Bit, vowing to divorce Aunt Mary, Li'l Bit turns him down and cuts him out of her life for good. I would categorize this play as irreverent, sarcastic, romantic,both silly and sincere at the same time. Lil Bit intervenes to describe a typical conversation between her fourteen-year-old self, her mother, and her grandmother (the last two played by the female and teenage choruses respectively). The original cast:[5], A production ran at Center Stage in Baltimore in 1998 and was directed by Barry Edelstein. Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs How I Learned to Drive, Dramatists Play Service, 1997, pp. [1] The theatre presented a first reading. Peck slyly orders oysters and martinis for Li'l Bit to consume, while the girl's mother gives less than stellar advice on drinking alcohol. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Peck is driving but offers Lil Bit a try. Lil Bit is hurt by this, again emphasizing that she wants to get a good education. By seeing a man act atypically for his gender, Lil Bit is impressed by Peck and feels sympathy towards him. Explaining that sometimes to tell a secret, you first have to teach a lesson, she introduces the first flashback, which takes place in 1969 when she is seventeen. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Telephone poles evoke the open roads in and beyond Lil Bits rural Maryland home, and Mark McCulloughs vivid lighting design, from the cool lapis of the early evening to the prismatic splay of teal, turquoise and rose pink that coyly suggests sunset, are the clearest signifiers of the productions shifting settings and tones. Pecks position is a hypocritical one, implying that its up to him with Aunt Mary would approve of his relationship. But of him specifically, not of being his lover. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. The teenage chorus member speaks Lil Bits lines, though the actions remain Lil Bits. This monologue becomes dramatic in so far as, the man who is hanging on by a thread with his fragile devotion, reflects the way she is currently feeling about herself. Peck here plays the role of a sexual authority. The play comes to an end as it began, with Lil Bit in the present day. Vogel wrote the play at the Perseverance Theatre, Alaska, where she was in residence. In doing so, it also addresses the issues of sympathy and forgiveness. The next high school vignette takes place in the gym showers. How I Learned to Drive,a play written by Paula Vogel, premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. His pointas Big Papais that Lil Bits only use is as a sexual object. Upgrade to PRO In 1979, on a long bus trip,LilBit meets an underage boy; the two go out to dinner and then have sex in her room. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. The off-stage voice cuts in, announcing, . Its noticeable that, despite him saying that her mind is. This again hints at Pecks own trauma, perhaps related to his relationship with his own mother. CRITIC'S PICK! The grandmother describes her husbands sexual behavior as that of a bull, wanting to have sex every morning and evening. Again, the car represents freedombut it has mixed connotations, because she can only drive thanks to Peck too. His gift of a car is an attempt to win favor and also a way of implying his authority. Flash forward to 1969, towards the end of the relationship. The female chorus advice does not provide Lil Bit with useful guidance about sexit merely says to avoid it. Peck is right: she is scared. Click here to read monologue on Google Books. The audience has been on a journey deep into her trauma, and with the previous car scene, has witnessed the starting point of the abuse. The three halves of Lil Bits mental state indicate her level of confusion. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . Lil Bits intervention into the memory shows that this is just an indicative incident, one of many. I first became aware of this years ago when it first opened in New York at Playwright's Horizons and thenlatersawa production at the City Theatre Company. A good place to start can be a monologue that's serio-comedic, combining comedy with pathos and tragedy. Li'l Bit questions where Peck was during Thanksgiving, implying that he entered a rehab for his alcoholism. An official-sounding voice marks the transition between the scenes, using the kind of headings found in driving instruction. WhenLilBit makes playful, flirtatious comments, Peck insists she remain serious, for she holds her life in her hands when shes driving. Despite that, what he says after stays with Lil Bit and throughout her life she continues to view the act of driving similarly to her uncle. Name:how i learned to drive. During this scene, the female chorus delivers a monologue as Lil Bits mother, offering absurd advice on how women ought to consume alcohol. Peck uses music to make Lil Bit feel comfortablebut only for his own gain. The contrast between the plays biting humor and the serious subject matter reflects the complicated relationship betweenLilBit and Peck. And yet How I Learned to Drive is also funny. Mother is wary of him, but finally relents, telling Li'l Bit that she holds her responsible for any misdeeds. Well worn territory, however, this is such a funny monologue that it works even if the audience knows what is coming. New York, NY, Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season Monologue starts with I got on the subway and it was and ends with like a beacon.. Vogel was inspired by the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: "she was stunned to find herself sympathizing with the narrator, Humbert Humbert, who sexually molests an adolescent girl. She believes that her marriage can be saved as soon as her niece goes off to college. The fact that he has loved Lil Bit since she was born, meanwhile, further highlights the deeply inappropriate nature of his pursuit. Other than the two characters already mentioned, the play employs three Greek chorusesteenage, female, and maleto jump between the roles of a wide range of people that populate Lil Bits recollections. An 11-year-old Li'l Bit fights with her mother about going on a seven-hour car trip to the beach with Uncle Peck. Peck and Lil Bits relationship, then, actually starts from her own suggestion. This play has some character interaction, but mostly it is filled with beautiful "modernsoliloquies." Vogel received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. I think thats a lovely idea. When Bobby begins to cry thinking of the fishs pain, Peck comforts him, inviting him to join him for a secret meeting in a treehouse. Li'l Bit and her mother both become increasingly drunk on martinis. She wants to escape the kind of background that doesnt value women, exemplified by the male chorus. With the above in mind, Lil Bit reminds the viewer that her experiences can never be fully left behind. The final line of Emilys monologue is on the top of pg 217 is Im ready to go back. There's a reason she won the 1998 Pullitzer for her play "How I Learned to Drive," in which this monologue appears. The spirit of Peck seems to be sitting in the back. It was written and developed at the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, with Molly Smith as artistic director. Lil Bits voice is played by the younger chorus as a way of emphasizing her age at the time and as another demonstration of her increasing emotional distance from the abuse. "[2], Vogel explained: "she intended the play 'to get the audience to go along for a ride they wouldn't ordinarily take, or don't even know they're taking. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. The play then shows a brief exchange between Lil Bit in the Summer of 1962, in which she convinces her mother/the female chorus to let her go and stay with Uncle Peck. The play tells the story of a woman nicknamed Li'l Bit as she comes to terms with her sexually abusive relationship with her Uncle Peck throughout her adolescence. 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