NEW YORK — When Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive” opened in 1997 with Mary-Louise Parker in the lead role, the depiction of sexual abuse on stage was close to nonexistent. This long running off-Broadway play, which charts the systematic abuse of a young woman by her uncle, explained, with total clarity, rich complexity and calm logic, how it can appear that victims of abuse are willing participants, even though that could not be further from the truth.
People, especially men, who had never understood that before went to see this play (which later starred Molly Ringwald and others) and left newly enlightened. Given how many regional theaters and colleges produced Vogel’s masterwork around the turn of the millennium (I saw it numerous times), it is not overstating things to posit that this play helped expose abuse, especially within families, a crucial and especially devastating locus.
By explaining the warning signs of grooming to those who could easily miss them, it probably saved some lives. There are not many plays about which you can make that claim. With this one, you can.
