{"id":28640,"date":"2019-03-19T09:16:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T13:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=28640"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:10:47","slug":"how-i-learned-to-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=28640","title":{"rendered":"PlayMakers presents Paula Vogel\u2019s ‘How I Learned to Drive’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which runs April 3-21, has a powerful new resonance in the #MeToo era. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Julia
Julia Gibson (right) stars as Lil’ Bit with Jeffrey Blair Cornell as Uncle Peck in “How I Learned to Drive.” (photo by HuthPhoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PlayMakers Repertory Company<\/a><\/u><\/strong> presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, \u201cHow I Learned to Drive\u201d by Tony Award-nominated playwright Paula Vogel. The production, directed by Lee Sunday Evans, will run from April 3 to 21, 2019.<\/p>\n

PlayMakers, based in UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts & Sciences, is North Carolina’s premier professional theater company.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow I Learned to Drive\u201d is a heartbreaking, unflinching and unsettling tale that follows Li\u2019l Bit, a sexual abuse survivor, as she unearths and untangles complex and troubling memories of her youth and abuse at the hands of her uncle. Seen through the lens of the #MeToo era, playwright Paula Vogel\u2019s powerful drama is an all-too relevant reminder of the importance of reclaiming one\u2019s own narrative, but also how uncomfortable that process can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Vivienne told me she had programmed \u2018How I Learned to Drive\u2019 in Playmakers\u2019 current season, I thought it was a brilliant, timely choice,” said director\u00a0Evans. “We talked about what it would mean to create a production of this story now, in the midst of the large-scale, public reckoning with imbalanced sexual power dynamics that’s going on. I have been enormously inspired and influenced by Paula’s writing through the years and I felt this production would be an opportunity to explore how live performance can uniquely create a communal, public space to meaningfully engage with some of the most private, personal episodes in one’s life. We need these public spaces right now \u2013- where we are not alone with the raw, uncomfortable, complicated experiences that get unearthed when we start to open up about our personal histories.”<\/p>\n

\"Text\u201cIn this season of shifting ground, it feels very right to close out our 2018\/19 main stage season with a groundbreaking playwright, Paula Vogel,\u201d said Vivienne Benesch, PlayMakers\u2019 producing artistic director. \u201cPaula has never shied away from tackling stories that have been ignored or pushed to the boundaries by other mediums. \u2018How I Learned to Drive\u2019 is one of those stories that digs deep into a subject that is messy, complicated, painful, and all-too pervasive, and makes us lean forward and examine our own experiences and perspectives. I am eternally grateful for the amazing Lee Sunday Evans, and our own Julia Gibson and Jeffrey Blair Cornell for taking on this tough and painfully relevant story with such sensitivity and a quiet, true brilliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Creative Team of \u201cHow I Learned to Drive\u201d includes: Lee Sunday Evans<\/strong> (Director), Jan Chambers <\/strong>(Scenic Designer), \u00a0Anne Kennedy <\/strong>(Costume Designer), Barbara Samuels<\/strong> (Lighting Designer), Lee Kinney<\/strong> (Sound Designer), Daniel Kluger<\/strong> (Composer), Mark Perry <\/strong>(Dramaturg), Tia James<\/strong> (Vocal Coach), Thiago Felix<\/strong> (Movement Coach), Ilana Khanin <\/strong>(Associate Director), and Elizabeth Ray<\/strong> (Stage Manager).<\/p>\n

\u201cHow I Learned to Drive\u201d\u00a0deals frankly with issues of sexual abuse and incest. All patrons are encouraged to use their own discretion in determining the appropriateness of the material.<\/p>\n

For information and to purchase tickets, call 919.962.7529 or visit www.playmakersrep.org<\/a><\/u>. Individual ticket prices start at $15, with discounted tickets for UNC students.<\/p>\n

Performance and Special Event Schedule<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n