How I Learned to Drive

A woman, known to the audience only as L'il Bit, tells a story of her complicated relationship with her uncle. Uncle Peck taught Li'l Bit to drive, as well as a few other things. According to the playwright, Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive is "a play about the gifts we receive from the people who hurt us" — and about control and manipulation. It is possibly the most heartbreaking play about pedophilia and incest you'll ever read or see.

It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 and was revived Off Broadway in 2012.

---

This play provides examples of:

• The Alcoholic
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: As well as grandparents. Li'l Bits' breasts are a regular dinner topic.
• Coming of Age Story
• Embarrassing Nickname: Li'l Bit, Uncle Peck, and many other members of the family are given nicknames that refer to their genitals.
• Fille Fatale: Averted, though Li'l Bit is accused of being one by her uncle's wife.
• Freudian Excuse: Hinted at.
• Growing Up Sucks: And how.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: The original production starred Mary-Louise Parker as Li'l Bit, David Morse (of St. Elsewhere) as Uncle Peck, and comedian Michael Showalter (of Stella and The State) as the Male Greek Chorus.
  • Michael Ian Black: ...Michael [Showalter] was in How I Learned To Drive, which won a Pulitzer Prize. I was in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • David Wain: Which won a Tony. [1]
• Hot for Student, arguably, though Peck isn't an official (driving) teacher.
• Incest Is Relative
• Not Blood Siblings: Peck married into Li'l Bit's family. But still.
• Off the Wagon After Li'l Bit rejects him, Uncle Peck eventually drinks himself to death.
• Only Known by Their Nickname
• Sympathy for the Devil: Though immoral behavior is not presented as being moral.
• Thanks for the Mammary: A middle school classmate fakes an allergic reaction, and when Li'l Bit asks what he's allergic to, he grabs a handful and yells, "foam rubber!"
• Umbrella Drink: Lampshaded, in a way: Li'l Bit is strenuously warned against ordering one of these.