Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present Paula Vogel’s award-winning “How I Learned to Drive” Sept. 28-Oct. 3.

The production, for mature audiences only, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sept. 28-30 and Oct. 2-3 with a 3 p.m. matinee on Oct. 1 in the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center’s Russell H. Miller Theatre. Tickets are $10; $8 for students and senior citizens.

Devastatingly funny and perceptive, the play deals delicately with the difficult and controversial issues incest and pedophilia in the American family, according to director Andrea Grapko, assistant professor of Theatre and Dance. Those issues will discussed in talkback sessions with the cast and a panel of experts following each performance, she said.

Proceeds from the production’s opening night will benefit Hope Harbor, which provides support services to those affected by sexual assault and abuse.

Debuting in 1997 at the Vinyard Theatre in New York, “How I Learned to Drive” was an immediate sensation, garnering a Pulitzer Prize, an Obie and a Lortel Best Play Award. The script has received hundreds of national and international productions. In this play, Vogel tests the boundaries of traditional form and offers masterful humor and perceptive insight into a young woman’s complex family dynamic. Using the metaphor of driving, she explores themes of power and control.

Vogel guides viewers on a journey backwards through the haze of Li’l Bit’s memory to explore and reflect on family relationships, particularly her relationship with her Uncle Peck. Vogel does not demonize but deftly explores questions of why and how people become damaged and, in turn, inflict that damage on others.
For ticket reservations, call (270) 745-3121. For information, call (270) 745-5845.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Andrea Grapko at (270) 745-2567.

-WKU-
"A leading American university with international reach"

Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270)745-4295 - Fax: (270)7455387 - E-Mail: western@wku.edu