Pulitzer Prize Winning 'How I Learned To Drive' Comes to Oak Park Feb. 27 - Mar. 15

Opening in our Blackbox Theatre, Paula Vogel's Pulitzer-winning play, How I Learned to Drive, runs February 27 - March 15, 2009.

In car-obsessed America, the ability to drive is a sign of power. In How I Learned to Drive, it becomes a rite of passage from a child's dependence to the promise of a more self-assured adulthood. The beauty of Vogel's script is that it refuses to reduce its heroine to the status of victim or to make her oppressor a mere villain. Vogel avoids the easy movie-of-the-week melodrama that this pedophiliac love story could have become.

According to Director and Oak Park resident, Tim Grover, "my reason for choosing this play was the subject matter. There are an astonishing number of people touched by this abuse in one way or another, and still it remains under a cover of silence. Sexually charged images of youth permeate our society, from movies and television to advertising and the internet, creating a tacit acceptance of children as sexual objects. We need to shine a light on this unspoken taboo to open the discussion."

Appearing as Peck, Village Players Artistic Director, Carl Occhipinti, is returning to the stage in this challenging role. Carl has worked in Chicago theatre with Steppenwolf (Everyman, The Marriage of Bette and Boo), Theo Ubique (The Lottery), Great Beast (Ambrosia), Shining Through (Breeze from the Gulf, The Shadow Box, Harvey, Never the Sinner), Centerlight (The Fantastics), Village Players (To Kill A Mockingbird, Flowers for Algernon, The Odd Couple), Merlin Productions (Holy Ghosts), Up And Coming (Damn Yankees), Thirsty Theatre (Ancestral Voices), and many others.

The rest of the cast includes Jenn Miller as Li'l Bit, Karen Gerbig as Older Bit, Stevie Cormier as Younger Bit, Keta Roth as Mother, Penny Glazkiewicz as Aunt Mary, Judi Schindler as Grandmother 1, Julie Mitre as Grandmother 2, John Zimmerman as Grandfather.

The Production Staff includes Stage Manager, Patty Sullivan; Lighting Designer, Andrew Glasenhardt; Costume Coordinator, Linda Miles; and Sound Designer, John List.

How I Learned to Drive performs February 27 - March 15, 2009. Fridays & Saturdays are at 7:30 PM and Sundays are at 2:30 PM, with an additional performance Thursday, March 12 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20 for General Addmission.

Presented in the Blackbox Theater of the Village Players Performing Arts Center located at 1010 Madison St., Oak Park. Plenty of parking is available on the street. The theater is handicap accessible; please call ahead to arrange for special seating. More information is available at www.village-players.org or 866-764-1010.

Village Players Performing Arts Center offers an eclectic mix of entertainment that empowers and inspires while exploring the human condition.

 

 

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