For decades, the story of my sister learning to drive involved the Freemasons library parking lot in Waco, a giant tank of an automobile and either Uncle Jack or Aunt Donna as the instructor. It was a great package, often told in various incarnations with exaggerated anecdotes, but it always, absolutely always, included this detail: "You know that lot used to be a field filled with all these red poppies, then they went and paved it over to make that parking lot your sister learned to drive on." It's one of those bittersweet detailsthat my sis learned the rules of the road on a field in which my dad and uncle used to throw pigskin and illegally pick flowers for their dates. Quad C's production of How I Learned to Drive is vastly different. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Paula Vogel details a rather disconcerting relationship between a girl and an older man. The girl learns life behind the wheel, but the anecdote is much less serene, far less innocuous than the harmless tales often describing that common vehicular lesson. How I Learned to Drive hits the stage at Collin County Community Colleges Black Box Theatre, 2800 E. Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2:15 p.m. Sundays (May 5) through May 6. Tickets are $6 to $8. Call 972-881-5100 or quadctheatre.org. Quad C stresses this production is not intended for children.
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., April 29, 2:15 p.m.; Sat., May 5, 2:15 p.m. Starts: April 26. Continues through May 5