Sometimes a play can make you appreciate the important role theater can play in society.

Last week I saw “How I Learned to Drive” on Broadway. The play by Paula Vogel first opened 25 years ago off-Broadway.  At the time it received a lot of publicity because it dealt openly with sexual abuse.  The car rides of a teen age girl and her uncle are presented with the necessary sensitivity and back story to make them very painful yet relatable.

Returning to the parts 25 years later, Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse brilliantly depict the characters and their complicated relationship over a ten year span; both actors received Tony nominations last week.

As Paula Vogel said “the gift of theater: is the transubstantiation of pain and secrecy into the light and then understanding if not acceptance.” 

Hopefully great theater can help provide the knowledge and perspective that will mitigate the

prevalence of sexual abuse for future generations.