How I Learned to Drive Response

When reading Paula Vogel's, How I Learned to Drive, the different Greek Chorus' startled me. Vogel chose to portray every character but Lil'Bit and Peck through the small chorus. Having done that, it effects the story because instead of it making it about Lil'Bit's relationship with her parents or herself, it brings the focus of the play to her relationship with Peck. Vogel chooses to portray Lil'Bit's Mom, Grandfather, and Grandmother with the Greek chorus because it is multiple voices as opposed to one. What I mean by this is that by creating a whole chorus to say these characters lines, Vogel is portraying these characters as being extremely influential and life changing to Lil Bit. For example, with many voices as Lil'Bit's mother, the audience gets the sense that Lil Bit has her mothers words repeating and repeating in her head all of the time. On another note, a dramaturgical choice that did not make much sense to me at first was the car references. What I mean by the car references are the introductions that break of each scene. For example, "Idling in the Neutral Gear" and, "Shifting forward from Second to Third Gear". I tried to relate each introduction to the scene that followed, but I could not seem to find a resemblance. After reading the whole play through, my guess is that these introductions serve as a reminder of what Lil'Bit has learned form Peck. It serves as a reminder that though he is her uncle and being extremely inappropriate, he taught her how to be in control, and taught her something that she would use for the rest of her life. I assume these references bring you back to main point and title of the play: How I Learned to Drive.