Years before the #MeToo movement empowered women and began toppling men in power, Paula Vogel won a Pulitzer Prize for exploring the subjects of sexual abuse, pedophilia, incest and grooming in her beautifully and sensitively written play “How I Learned to Drive.”

It was a brave piece when it had its premiere in 1997 and remains so in the engaging production directed by Kristofer Geddie for Venice Theatre’s Stage II series.
It is about a young woman named Li’l Bit who looks back as an adult at her relationship with her Uncle Peck. He was the only one in her dysfunctional family who paid attention to her, complimented her and listened to her. He made her feel like a person when she was a little girl growing up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., until she went off to college. Yes, he even taught her to drive and find the pleasure of traveling the open road.

Her parents are mostly absent from the scene, or drunk and mocking, echoing the taunts she’d hear from classmates as she developed and went through puberty. For years, everything was sexualized in her life.

The subject matter alone is likely to be disturbing to some people – a few patrons walked out midway through the March 21 performance – but Vogel crafted a play that is so engaging and entertaining that you feel a bit comforted, even as you’re bothered by what’s happening and see the lasting impact the trauma can have.

The play is filled with humor, mostly from the Li’l Bit’s interactions with her mother, aunt, grandmother and grandfather, who talk in alternately prudish or boastful ways about sex. Their kitchen banter reflects how parents have struggled for centuries to talk to their children about sex and prepare them for the pleasure and the dangers out there. Within a scene depicting Li’l Bit and Peck on a celebration “date” in a fancy restaurant, Aunt Mary is seen to one side offering tips on the proper way for a young lady to drink – she encourages small sips, lots of water and bread – even as she gets sloshed herself ((and?)) stumbles off stage.

It is easy to get engaged watching Alyssa Goudy as Li’l Bit. She’s such a personable performer that you get caught up in her world immediately, and she lets you see how she’s repulsed yet curious about Uncle Peck’s slow-building seduction. He keeps saying he’s a patient man and she’s a bit of a flirt, whether or not she realizes it. 

He’s so nice that she wants to please him. She makes him promise to not drink when she is around. 

And Peck is no creepy pervert. Dennis Parker plays him as well-mannered, considerate, encouraging and nurturing. On one level, those are traits to be proud of, but with just a subtle twist, they become darker, sinister and repulsive. Even when Li’l Bit worries about Aunt Mary finding out what they’re doing, he speaks kindly of his wife while brushing aside Li’l Bit’s concerns.

Ann Chalifoux plays Aunt Mary, as well as Li’l Bit’s mother and other characters, as part of an ensemble that includes Alisha Hunter and Jonathan Hunter portraying multiple characters of varying ages. Some characters (and wigs) work better than others.

Scenic designer Tim Wisgerhof captures the spirit of the story and the open road, with a set of sturdy platforms that become a multitude of places, all divided by highway lines, with some provocative billboards above for car brands, showing how everything in our world is sexualized.

There are moments that become briefly stagnant during the play’s 90-minutes, but when the focus is on Li’l Bit and Uncle Peck at whatever stage of their relationship, the play stirs a range of emotions from affection to anger that keep you involved. Vogel masterfully finds ways to address the most sensitive issues. 

‘How I Learned to Drive’ by Paula Vogel. Directed by Kristofer Geddie. Reviewed March 21, Venice Theatre’s Pinkerton Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Sarasota. Through April 4. Tickets are $39, $28 for college students and educators and $18 for high school students. venicetheatre.org; 941-488-1115.