Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumnus Cody Estle ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, is the director of Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama How I Learned to Drive, opening Monday, February 11, at Raven Theatre in Chicago’s Edgewater Theatre District. Estle is the artistic director of the venerable theatre, located at 6157 N. Clark.
Set in rural Maryland in the 1960s, the play focuses on its female protagonist’s complex and troubling relationship with her family, including the uncle who sexually abused her.
Cody Estle (Photo: Joe Mazza at Brave-Lux)
“How I Learned To Drive is as relevant today – if not regrettably more so – as it was in 1997 when the play premiered Off-Broadway,” says Estle. “The play involves a woman looking back on a relationship with her uncle and her family during her adolescent years, which reveals a story all too common then and now. The #MeToo movement has shed light on the persistence of men using their positions of power to assault women sexually. This play is a reminder that this uncomfortable topic demands acknowledgment, conversation and action. Without such, how can we hope to stop the assault? I’m looking forward to presenting this revival of a powerful piece of writing by a titan of the American theatre.”
Kathryn Acosta
The show’s cast includes Columbia College alum Kathryn Acosta ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Acting.
How I Learned to Drive runs through March 24. For tickets, call 773-338-2177 or click here.
