"The topic of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive is controversial, it's dark, and at the same time, it's very funny."
That's a summary from IU grad student and director Mark Kamie. "Yes, the core of the play is a story of sexual abuse, but it's a humane play." Kamie promises that It's going to leave audiences with more questions than answers. "There'll be a lot to talk about."
The Actors
Kerry Ipema has the demanding part of Li'l Bit. "I'm the narrator, looking back from the age of thirty and then playing out episodes with my uncle from my preteen and teen years." Although Li'l Bit is the victim of Uncle Peck's advances, Ipema says that the play tries to avoid simple victim/victimizer categories. "Paula Vogel has done a really beautiful job of keeping a sympathetic and insightful tone. The phrase that we keep coming back to in rehearsal is, 'It takes a community to make a molester.'"
For Kelly Lusk, who plays Uncle Peck, How I Learned to Drive offers a rich challenge. For one thing, it's his first opportunity to play an extended role as an older person. "Playing a person in his forties is something that I won't get to do again until I'm actually that age. Fortunately, Paula Vogel gives me a lot of help. The way that I talk with Li'l Bit when she's a preteen develops and changes as she ages."