Using a palette of wild humor and startling honesty, Paula Vogel takes us on a journey down the bumpy roads of rural Maryland to deliver a tale of forgiveness and survival. A dynamically written play about a Lolita from Lolita's point of view, How I Learned to Drive explores a taboo subject in a startling new light. Chronicling the damaging seven-year relationship between Li'l Bit, an 11-year-old girl and her Uncle Peck, 38, the play maintains remarkable empathy for both characters. Winner of best play awards from The New York Drama Critics and the Outer Critics Circle, How I Learned to Drive also swept New York's Obies and Dramalogue awards and won the Pulitzer Prize for 1998.
Paula Vogel began writing plays 20 years ago, concentrating on subjects not openly discussed but prevalent in the culture. Vogel's great virtue as a playwright lies in tackling sensitive and serious issues with humor, intelligence, and a firm refusal to reduce their complexities into tidy, little moralities. Her plays have been performed at theaters such as the Lortel Theatre and Circle Repertory in New York, American Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Magic Theatre, Center Stage and Alley Theatre as well as throughout Canada, England, Brazil, Chile and Spain. Her other plays include Desdemona, The Oldest Profession, The Mineola Twins and The Baltimore Waltz (1992 Obie Award for Best Play). Vogel has been the head of Brown University's Master of Fine Arts playwriting program since 1985. She is currently on leave from that post and is the new playwright-in-residence at D.C.'s Arena Stage. How I Learned to Drive is already beginning development for a film realization, for which Vogel is writing the screenplay.
Performances of How I Learned to Drive are April 16-May 9, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Sundays at 7:00 at Actors Workshop, 40 Boylston Street, Boston conveniently located on the MBTA, one half block from the Boylston Station on the Green Line and Chinatown/Essex Station on the Orange Line. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Tickets can be purchased by calling (617) 887-2336. Recommended for Mature Audiences.
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John Carozza Uncle Peck
A graduate of "Circle in the Square Theatre" on Broadway, some of John's theatre credits include lead roles in "The Rainmaker", "Glengarry Glen Ross" (both recently nominated for the Independent Reviewers of N.E. Awards), "The Glass Menagerie", and "Cloud Nine". John has performed to sold out audiences as far away as the Russian Ukraine, and been involved in numerous national film and television productions. His television credits include "America's Most Wanted", "Real Stories of The Highway Patrol", and "Shipwrecks". He has been seen (blowing up a plane) as the international terrorist Ramzi Yousef on Discovery Channel's "Airline Disasters". John also does principal work in television and radio commercials. He has done ads for "Cellular One", "People's Heritage Bank", Homevest Mortgage, and can currently be spotted on WCVB-TV's new promotion for Newscenter 5. |
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James Jackson, Jr. Musical Director/Singer
Some favorite roles James has performed...Hud in "Hair" at the Company Theatre, Peter in "Company" with the Walpole Footlighters, the Leading Player in "Pippin", Prince Dauntless in "Once Upon a Mattress", and the Teen Angel in "Grease". Music Directing credits include "The Sound of Music", "Kiss Me Kate", "Pippin", and "Once On This Island". James holds a BA in music education from Westfield State College. He has studied with Cheryl Cobb, Ken Manzer, and Robert Honeysucker. .. |
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Danielle Fauteux Jacques Li'l Bit
Danielle Fauteux Jacques has directed over 30 plays including Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn, The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel and Tales of the Lost Formicans by Constance Congdon. She also directed the Youth Program's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. She has also appeared extensively on stage, and stars in the award-winning independent film, Desperate Measures, directed by Tom Robotham. Danielle holds an MA from Emerson College and an MFA from Florida Atlantic University. She has studied acting at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and with the Moscow Art Theatre School. She is Spanish-English bilingual and has taught acting at Florida Atlantic University, the Panaro Workshop in Miami, and the Actors Workshop. |
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Ben Mazzotta" Male Greek Chorus
Center
Ben Mazzotta is making his Boston debut. A Newton native, Ben has a degree from Yale University and has worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville and Penobscot Theatre in Bangor. Most recently, he spent the fall with Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont. Ben loves new play development. Last spring, he played the roles of Khai and Thanatos in a staged reading of William diCanzio's new work, The Leper King. In college, he co-founded Physical Impulse theater company to explore dance-theater fusion and improvisational approaches to composition for the stage. Once upon a time, Ben did one tiny voiceover for an educational video called All We Want Is Make Us Free, a project which was later developed (without him) into the movie Amistad. |
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Adriana "Gigi" Mederos-Glassner Scenic Artist
Gigi is a painter and has exhibited locally, and in Montreal, Colorado, New York, Florida, and her native Venezuela. She designed the sets for Beyond Therapy, Sincerity Forever, Blood Wedding, and designed and created live art for Alice under Glass and mAlice: an Improv Tabloid Odyssey. She also designed TheatreZone's Chelsea Summer Youth Drama production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gigi is also a legal interpreter and translator, and her business experience includes management of The Wild Flower, a Florida restaurant, and of Tepuy Translations. |
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Alyssa Ravenwood Director
Alyssa Ravenwood comes to Boston from the beautiful Redwood forest country of Humboldt County in Northern California, where she lives with her husband Orlando and dog Murphy. Her directing credits include Parallel Lives, Marvin's Room, Reckless, and End Game. In addition to being a director, Alyssa is also an award winning actor and sculptor. While in the Boston area Alyssa is making use of the historical archives at the Schlesiger Library on the History of Women in America for her next project, a play based on the life of the ground breaking suffragist, Alice Paul. Last year Alyssa and her partner Rebecca Floyd founded Women On Stage, a collaborative organization for women artists from all mediums who wish to produce live performances; and Act Together, a resource organization for theater artists. "Our goal is to make it easier for artists to produce and tour independent , original theater." |
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Karen Woodward Female Greek Chorus
Karen Woodward has been working in Boston for nine years now, appearing onstage at the Publick Theater, the Lyric Stage, The Boston Playwrights Theater, and Merrimack Repertory Theater, among others. Currently you can catch her in "At the Black Pig's Dyke" at the Sugan Theater Company. Anyone wishing to see her resume and ultra kewl website is invited to go to www.karenwoodward.com. This is her first appearance for TheaterZone, and of course, she is quite ecstatic to be working here. She has also worked behind the proscenium as stage manager, director, board member, musical director, composer, and producer. She is in the midst of creating a new show, (perhaps one woman, perhaps not) and is planning on directing something in the following year- any suggestions? She has an active on-camera and voiceover career and works intensely with StageSource, the Alliance of Theater Artists and Producers (www.stagesource.org). Karen loves Boston and plans to keep it as her base of operations for a good long time. |
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Alli Barshop Teenage Greek Chorus
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