How I Learned to Drive

September 18, 1998 - October 10, 1998

"Superb comic drama . . . haunting . . . a lovely, harrowing guide to the crippling persistence of one woman's memories."

— The New York Times

How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece tells the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road—and of life—from behind the wheel.

Arliss Howard and Debra Winger join the A.R.T. company to play the leading roles in How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel. The story is recalled by a young woman growing up in Maryland called Li'l Bit, who comes of age in the 1960-70s. She receives driving lessons from her uncle, and that relationship—tentative and sexual—forms the underpinnings of a story that is mesmerizing, personal, and disarmingly funny. The play premiered at the Vineyard Theatre in New York in 1997 and won every off-Broadway award for Best Play, including the Obie, Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics Circle, and Outer Critics Circle.

"A gutsy, heartfelt story of desperation and survival. Vogel recaptures the confusing swirl of adolescence and how one woman learned to live with, rather than be defeated by, the scars of time."

— The Boston Globe