Raven Announces HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE Cast and Designers

Raven Announces HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE Cast and Designers

Pictured (clockwise from left): Eliza Stoughton, Mark Ulrich, Faith Servant, Julian Hester and Kathryn Acosta.

Raven Theatre has announced the cast and design team for Paula Vogel’s HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Artistic Director Cody Estle.

The cast includes Eliza Stoughton as Li’l Bit, with Kathryn Acosta, Julian Hester, Faith Servant, and Mark Ulrich.

The production team includes Jeffrey D. Kmiec (scenic design), Theresa Ham (costume design), Becca Jeffords (lighting design), Josh Schmidt (sound design), Abbie Cain (props design), Tony Churchill (projections design), Eva Breneman (dialect coach), Stephen Johnson (dramaturg), Chris Farrell (assistant director), Kristen Johnson (associate director), Chris Farrell (assistant director), Ian Liberman (assistant costume designer), Colin Kovarik (assistant sound designer), Eileen Rozycki (scenic artist), Cole von Glahn (production manager), Brian Sprague (technical director), Andy Kloubec (master electrician), Mara Sagal (stage manager) and Wilhelm Peters (assistant stage manager).

Rural Maryland, 1960s. From behind the wheel of a Chevy ’56, a woman named Li’l Bit navigates the tangled boulevards of her adolescence, reflecting on her complex and troubling relationship with her family. But old secrets and fresh discoveries abound as she struggles to accept her past and the demons that live there.

Comments Estle, “’How I Learned To Drive’ is as relevant today – if not regrettably more so – as it was in 1997 when the play premiered Off-Broadway. The play involves a woman looking back on a relationship with her uncle and her family during her adolescent years, which reveals a story all too common then and now. The #MeToo movement has shed light on the persistence of men using their positions of power to assault women sexually. This play is a reminder that this uncomfortable topic demands acknowledgment, conversation and action. Without such, how can we hope to stop the assault? I’m looking forward to presenting this revival of a powerful piece of writing by a titan of the American theatre.”

HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE runs February 7 – March 24 on Raven’s East Stage, 6157 N. Clark St. in Chicago. For more information visit www.raventheatre.com.

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