How I learned to drive
Alumna Stephanie Burlington directs Paula Vogels' Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive. The drama bravely examines the taboo subject of abuse with startling originality. Humorous and compassionate, this play tells the story of a complex relationship between uncle and niece—and how the niece learned to survive. Burlington shares her thoughts on this provocative script and her production of it:
How do you feel about this play?
SB When I first saw How I Learned To Drive, by Paula Vogel, I left the theatre with nagging questions and also with worry. What had just happened? Did a young woman who was abused by her uncle for up to eight years of her life just forgive him? Is her uncle really the monster I am supposed to think he is? What should I believe? 
Who should I root for? I left struggling against my preconceived ideas about victim versus victimizer. Paula Vogel stretches the audience's stereotypical response to Peck and Li'L Bit's relationship, and explores the good and bad that comes of it.
Why did you want to direct?
SB I wanted to direct the play because I didn't understand it! I wanted to see if I could get a better grasp on what I was "supposed" to think about Peck and Li'L Bit's relationship. With the help of the cast, I have discovered that the play is about the power of forgiveness and the healing process that occurs when you are able to let go of the people who have hurt you. Li'L Bit forgives the unforgivable, has compassion when not deserved, continues to love, and searches to understand. Through Li'L Bit, the audience sees the struggle to survive and the obstacles to triumph.
What do you want the audience to walk away with?
SB We began working on this play right after the terrorist attacks on September 11, amid quiet and mourning. It was tempting to put off rehearsal because it seemed absurd to keep going. However, we did, we kept going. After reading the play for the first time, we all discussed the issues of forgiveness, the capacity to love, to heal and to survive. It was impossible not to relate these ideas to what we were all feeling as individuals and as a community. How can we forgive? How do we survive? Where will this road take us and how will we exist beyond our losses? I want the audience to leave questioning their hearts, re-examining their own assumptions and expanding their capacity to love and forgive. Where are you on your journey?