Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...As directed by Kayla Adams, the Artistic Home’s production, starring John Mossman and Elizabeth Birnkrant as Peck and Li’l Bit, is intense and devastating, shocking, and human."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Yes, but how do audiences in 2018 suppress their horror and repugnance for the 90 minutes required for the star-crossed fugitives-played with unbiased compassion by Elizabeth Birnkrant and John Mossman under the direction of Kayla Adams-to arrive at their inevitable parting of ways? The Artistic Home never crosses the line into gratuitous vulgarity, instead invoking a purview that, while undeniably disapproving, opens the way to a wider understanding of the aberrant conduct under scrutiny."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...Initially, I was somewhat alarmed when I saw that Artistic Home was going to be producing Paula Vogel's 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning play "How I Learned to Drive" as part of their current season. After all, this drama deals with pedophilia and the sexually abusive relationship between a teen-aged girl and her uncle. Is this really the right time to revisit this work and address these themes in the height of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements? After seeing director Kayla Adams' well-constructed production, it is clear that the answer to that question is a resounding "Yes.""
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Never has there been a more relevant time for Paula Vogel's 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner 'How I Learned to Drive'. By now, it's considered a modern classic and has certainly made Vogel a hot playwright ever since. The fact that this play is now twenty years old and is arguably more topical now than when it premiered is unsettling. The Artistic Home Ensemble is reviving this play in hopes that we don't have cultural amnesia regarding sexual abuse."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...How I Learned to Drive isn’t a play for the squeamish. It’s a disturbing and ultimately sad story about pedophilia, sexual abuse, drinking and driving. It illustrates how the predator sometimes gets help from complicit family members and even the victim."
Our Urban Times - Highly Recommended
"...How I Learned to Drive, the winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize, co-winner of both the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding play, has rolled into The Artistic Home theatre, 1376 W. Grand Ave., as its relevance screams out from current news headlines."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Incest and pedophilia have to be two of the most taboo subjects in western culture, and no one would think that they are funny, but humor probably is the only way one can discuss such things. In any case, both subjects are front and center in Paula Vogel's powerful-and often very funny-Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned to Drive, playing now in a stellar production from The Artistic Home. Through the 90-minute length of this show, audience members will find themselves laughing at the central family as they are shocked by the things they are seeing and hearing about."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...This play delves into dark topics but is a superb script that is handled quite well by this company. Even the most casual theatre-goer will be intrigued by how this heavy subject is handled and will find themselves grasping at the lighter moments. Be prepared for the emotional roller coaster."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Using the simplest of means in the humblest of settings, director Kayla Adams and her skilled cast and crew have crafted a potent and memorable drama, one that brings theater back to its roots in storytelling and personal and social history. This clean, pared-down production of "How I Learned to Drive" is storefront theater at its best, and it has much to teach the bigger houses about what is and is not necessary to satisfy and edify an audience."
