Road Rash

Although incest is not generally a wildly funny topic, the Village Voice described Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize winning play How I Learned to Drive as “the sweetest and most forgiving play ever written about child abuse.” The young and pretty Li’l Bit grows closer to Uncle Peck (ewww!) during the course of driving lessons that soon throttle off track and crash into a pole of inappropriate and misplaced love. Yes, the subject is uncomfortable, but the story is still humorous. Brought to the stage of the Jerry Herman Ring Theatre by the University of Miami’s Department of Theater Arts, both How I Learned to Drive and Electra, another production of betrayal, pack serious punches from young women who have been bitch-slapped by familial hardship.

Jennifer Vellenga sets Electra -- a modern adaptation of classic Sophocles -- amid a crumbling Texas dynasty. But Electra’s tragic loss of her father is not lost in the landscape of cowboys as she vows to avenge his killer. The two plays will run in tandem through February 26. Show dates for How Learned to Drive are February 15, 17, 23, and 25 at 8:00 p.m. and February 18 and 26 at 2:00 p.m. Electra dates are February 16, 18, 22, and 24 at 8:00 p.m. and February 19 and 25 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets range from $16 to $18 for adults, $14 to $16 for seniors, and $6 to $8 for students. Call 305-284-3355, or visit www.miami.edu/ring.
Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 15. Continues through Feb. 26