Contemporary Theatre and Its Diversity 《How I learned to drive》

Contemporary Theatreand Its Diversity《How I learned to drive》 Theater Performing Arts Sonia & Lucille

Introduction to the Play • The Author • The Plot • Look into the Play • Stage Design

Introduction • Contemporary Theatre & Its Diversity • Poor and Environmental Theatres • Multimedia, Happenings, and Performance Art • Gay and Lesbian Theatre • African American Theatre • Latino Theatre • Asian American Theatre • Native American Theatre • Theatre by and for Women

Introduction • About How I Learned to Drive • The Play’s Sections • “Idling in the Neutral Gear” • “You and the Reverse Gear” • “Driving in Today’s World”

Paula Vogel Female American Has received many awards, the most famous one is “How I Learned to Drive”, received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama . Paula is the Professor of Creative Writing at Brown University, where she directs the MFA Playwriting program. The Author

"Vogel tends to select sensitive, difficult, fraught issues to theatricalize," theatre theorist Jill Dolan comments, "and to spin them with a dramaturgy that’s at once creative, highly imaginative, and brutally honest." • Paula Vogel says, "We receive great love from the people who harm us." and this is one of the main idea of Drive.

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, sexistgrandfather; 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.

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. However, looking back on her experiences, she has learned to forgive Peck for his wrongdoings. She concludes that he did give her something valuable: the freedom she feels only when she drives.

Look into the Play • Li’l Bit & Uncle Peck • What did they really want?

Stage Design • Two Chairs • The Car • The Dining Room • A Restaurant • ... • The Mind & The Memory

Summary • Paula Vogel • Li’l Bit & Uncle Peck • Pedophile • incest • Using Very Little Scenery

Conclusion • Cut through Stereotypes • Show the Human Side of Frailty

video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T7X1mobARE&feature=related

Question • Why does Li’l Bit feel free only when she is driving? • Where could you find Feminism in this play?

Q&A

References • Brockett, O., & Ball, R. (2004). The Essential Theatre 8th Edition. USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Learned_to_Drive • http://www.enotes.com/learned-drive/summary

THANK YOU!

Contemporary Theatre and Its Diversity 《How I learned to drive》