Young Li'l Bit (Elizabeth Reaser) and Uncle Peck (Norbert Leo Butz) during a lesson in the car.

It’s rare that we get to see the movie actors and actresses of “The Twilight Saga” take to the stage.  I’ve been lucky enough to see several on the boards and I have cherished those performances.  Recently I had the opportunity to see Elizabeth Reaser (Esme Cullen), in the Off Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize winning drama, “How I Learned to Drive,” and I am happy that I was along for the lesson.

This dark play, that at times calls for laughs, tells the story of Li’l Bit (Reaser) and her inappropriate relationship with her aunt’s husband, her Uncle Peck (Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz).  Narrated by the adult Li’l Bit, the play takes us back, in non-chronological order, to events of her pre-teen and teenaged years, both innocent and sinister.  We see the dysfunction of her family that gives each other inappropriate nickname, and the pedophilic interactions her uncle has with her starting when she’s 11-years-old.  It continues until she’s 18 when she finally questioned what has happened between them, all the while using metaphors for driving to move from scene to scene.

Butz manages to make a character that by his nature is loathsome and manipulative into a character that at times is charming and likeable. You can understand why Li’l Bit is drawn to him, and can see how she was drawn into such a dangerous web.  He delivers his role with such ease, that while intentions are often clear to the audience, Li’l Bit usually takes a bit longer to catch up.

Reaser is riveting as Li’l Bit. She brilliantly brings to life the emotionally scarred adult looking back at her youth, who now finds freedom when she drives. Whether it’s her numbness as she remembers when things started to go wrong when she was 11, her struggle with body changing and the resulting taunting at school, or her discomfort when there are moments that she realizes that something is not right with what her Uncle is doing, she presents an emotional state and performance that enthrallingly matches the age she is playing perfectly.

“How I Learned to Drive,” is not a comfortable lesson to sit through as you would suspect about any play involving pedophilia, incest, and misogyny. The Second Stage Theatre production does an excellent job at exploring these issues and bringing to light the incredible damage they cause.

“How I Learned to Drive” by Paula Vogel and directed by Kate Whoriskey is playing at Second Stage Theatre, 305 W. 34the Street, New York through March 11. For more information and to purchase tickets visit http://2st.com.