Other than the two characters already mentioned, the play employs three Greek chorusesteenage, female, and maleto jump between the roles of a wide range of people that populate Lil Bits recollections. I would have liked to have been in the audience of unsuspecting people who may have crossed the threshold of the theater not knowing what to expect not knowing theyd paid to see a searing tale of sexuality and abuse. Though Lil Bits quote here is expressly about sex, it echoes across the other gender issues presented in the play. How I Learned to Drive,a play written by Paula Vogel, premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. It is Christmas in 1964. The final line of Emilys monologue is on the top of pg 217 is Im ready to go back. His choice of words is usually careful in this way. How I Learned to Drive is not told with a straightforward plot but is instead an uneven mixture of flashbacks, narration, monologues, and the kind of impersonal voice-over that . It has pseudoscientific implications, gesturing towards Darwinism and survival of the fittest. Lil Bit is determined to get a good education, which the male chorus says she isnt going to need. The production opened February 13, 2012 and was favorably reviewed by The New York Times. As Emilys spirit passes on to the other side, she is compelled to take one last hard look at life as a mortal. He clearly feels he has failed to amount to much (as implied in the earlier restaurant conversation), which perhaps exerts a subliminal influence on his lust for youth. Her grandfather, played by the male chorus, makes lewd jokes about the size of her breasts. to learn more about this monologue from How I Learned to Drive and unlock other amazing theatre resources! In the opening scene,LilBit, age17, and her uncle,Peck,are sitting in the front seat of his car for their weekly get-together. The Teenage Greek Chorus member briefly takes over to introduce a memory that is not Li'l Bit's. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Upgrade to PRO Each scene is designated a driving rule thatalso reflectsthe life lessonLilBit learns therein. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2010-03-10 15:52:13 Bookplateleaf 0010 Boxid IA114921 Camera Canon 5D City [New York, NY] Donor alibris Edition The whole set-up gives him a quasi-legitimate reason to ogle Lil Bit. Thumb through this funny one-woman show tofind scores of potential material for audition monologues. In one scene, in which Peck teaches an unseen young cousin how to fish, Morses carefully calculated portrayal is its own minute brand of seduction Morse invites the audience to fall under his characters spell. Explaining that sometimes to tell a secret, you first have to teach a lesson, she introduces the first flashback, which takes place in 1969 when she is seventeen. PDF. Li'l Bit. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. This particular announcement signals that the action is going backwards in terms of the plays chronology. A few scenes about Lil Bits interactions with her family and peers gawking or jeering at her busty pubescent figure reveal how even our friends and loved ones can be complicit, to small and large degrees, in the ways women and girls are denied agency over their bodies. Click here to read monologue on google books. She lies in bed after having sex, wondering if she now understands something of the allure that Peck felt for her in her youth. Directed once more by Brokaw, the Manhattan Theater Club production reunites Parker as Li'l Bit with Morse as Peck, her charming uncle, who sexually abuses her throughout her childhood and . The shift up a gear signals an acceleration towards the climax of the relationship and, more widely, the ending of the play. Peck is right: she is scared. Pecks comparison of Lil Bits breasts to cathedrals is a suggestion of the primacy of being youngto him, no cultural achievements can match the body of a beautiful teenager. Soon after she leaves, the male chorus plays the role of bartender as Peck knocks back shot after shot of liquor. LIL BIT. Li'l Bit takes control once again to recount a conversation she had with her mother and grandmother about sex. Is she, too, hanging on by a thread? Lil Bit drunkenly kisses Peck in the car afterwards, before freaking out about the inappropriateness of their relationship. More surprisingly, it clarifies the patterns in the relationship between niece and uncle: of degrees of responsibility, feelings of guilt and shifts in power. 35 David Morse and Mary-Louise Parker in Paula Vogel's play. As in the earlier conversation around the dinner table, Lil Bit is defined by her breasts. [] Sometimes I feel like these alien life forces, these two mounds of flesh have grafted themselves onto my chest, and theyre using me until they can propagate and take over the world and theyll just keep growing, with a mind of their own, until I collapse under their weight and they suck all the nourishment out of my body and I finally just waste away while they get bigger and bigger and---. How I Learned to DriveThrough May 29 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan; manhattantheatreclub.com. Paula Vogel, Lil Bit is a teenager in rural 1960s Maryland. I cant go on, include all of Emilys lines that follow (cut all of interjections by other characters). LilBit is hesitant because shes underage but eventually drinks until shes intoxicated. Lil Bit is at college, away from the family home. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. This reveals that the grandmother is disappointed in Lil Bits mother for falling pregnant early in life. Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs Shes a knowing adult reflecting on the sexual abuse she endured, a shrinking child, a coquettish yet whip-smart 17 year old; Parker acts her way through decades of Lil Bits trauma with astute choreography. [19], Jill Dolan, in her review in Theatre Journal, wrote of the original 1997 Off-Broadway production: "Vogels choice to remember Lil Bit and Pecks relationship nonchronologically illustrates its complexity, and allows the playwright to build sympathy for a man who might otherwise be despised and dismissed as a child molester.Vogel builds the relationship in scenes sculpted with spare efficiency by Brokaw that crystallize moments of trust, disappointment, longing, and desire. Release him.. When Bobby begins to cry thinking of the fishs pain, Peck comforts him, inviting him to join him for a secret meeting in a treehouse. Synopsis: A mother gives her daughter essential tips on how to drink when on a date. Excited and nervous, she takes up the drivers seat but cant reach the pedals. Lil Bit categorically doesnt want to be defined by her appearance, wanting to use her mind in life rather than her body. The next flashback takes place in a fancy restaurant in 1968. This is contradicted by the same character later advocating for Lil Bit to be told more about the facts of life. The teenage chorus/grandmothers account of sex with Lil Bits grandfather paints sex as something animalistic and primal, not allowing for a consideration of tenderness or love. The actress performing this has the potential to do something very profound: make the audience connect - if only for a moment - to how beautiful just being alive right now is. Lil Bits grandmother is a god-fearing woman, which is why shes taking a line in this which is intended to put off Lil Bit from having sex before marriage. It was also produced at the Teatro auditorio de Miraflores in Lima, Peru, in 2013, with Li'l Bit renamed "Rayita" and played by Leticia Poirier and Uncle Peck renamed "To Pico" and played by Marcelo Rivera. Both the characters have very different intentions in this scene, with Lil Bit wanting to end their relationship and Peck wanting to cement it. Lil Bits decision not to change the gender reflects her complicated feelings towards Peck. The male chorus is, in essence, saying that she is defined by her physical appearance. Explaining that she feels free when shes driving, she climbs into the front seat of the car, repeating instructions Peck taught her. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. The acceleration of the action continues. The mother and grandmother have an argument in which it is revealed that the mother is resentful for her grandmothers unwillingness to provide guidance about sex to her when she was younger. An 11-year-old Li'l Bit fights with her mother about going on a seven-hour car trip to the beach with Uncle Peck. The female choruss mention of Uncle Peck is intentionally grotesque, underscoring the inappropriateness of his sexual attraction to his niece. He may not violently force Lil Bit to do things against her will, but he undoubtedly coerces her psychologically. The three halves of Lil Bits mental state indicate her level of confusion. CRITIC'S PICK! In fact, she blames Li'l Bit for what . The female chorus removes Pecks pedophilia from being his responsibility by linking it to troubles brought on by external events and his repression of emotions. October 2019. Notes: Paula Vogel is a brilliant writer with mountains of wit and this monologue is a prime illustration of that. The title of this scene as introduced by present-day Lil Bit is intentionally comic. How I Learned to Drive Review: Many Miles to Go Before a Reckoning, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/theater/how-i-learned-to-drive-review.html. He s the kind of person who is easy to admire: How i learned to drive is the pulitzer prize winning story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel. He promises not to show them to anyone and that he loves her. Lil Bit plays the role of caregiver and sympathizer, underscoring the emotional complexity of her relationship with Peck. She describes that moment as the last day I lived in my body. Now almost thirty-five, she is glad to believe in things that her younger self didnt, like family and forgiveness. She still doesnt do anything that jiggles; the closest thing she feels to flight in the body is to drive. He tells her that men are confident drivers and that he wants to teach her to drive like a man. The dramatic and comedic monologues from the play. Flash forward to 1969, towards the end of the relationship. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. That the performances were so palpable, at least, wasnt a surprise; the two already had the play in their bones, having originated the roles Off Broadway in 1997. The grandmother describes her husbands sexual behavior as that of a bull, wanting to have sex every morning and evening. Peck is driving but offers Lil Bit a try. This is being done for a class called improvisation as an acting techn. Lil Bit intervenes to describe a typical conversation between her fourteen-year-old self, her mother, and her grandmother (the last two played by the female and teenage choruses respectively). A typical family dinner in 1969 has Li'l Bit's family (played by the three Greek Chorus members) cracking jokes about how "well-endowed" she is. Except her doting uncle is actually a pedophile who begins grooming his niece when shes 11. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Pecks drinking of the champagne indicates his destabilization as it begins to dawn on him that things wont go to plan. In the categories of "Monologues from plays" and "famous monologues" this famous monologue by Thornton Wilder has the potential to let an actor really express a deep appreciation for life - and frustration at those the monologue is addressed to, that they are missing it! This particular recollection hints at Lil Bits struggle to process her relationship with Peck and how this struggle negatively impacts her life. The play premiered on March 16, 1997, Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. But of him specifically, not of being his lover. The Elder (Vera) Indecent 0 START: I am done being in a country that. "[7], Ben Brantley, in his The New York Times review of the original 1997 production, wrote: "The scrambled chronology, which suggests the ways memories attack by stealth and out of sequence, makes it harder for the audience to form conventional judgments. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Unable to deal with that memory again, Li'l Bit changes the memory (as part of the driving metaphor, she likens this to changing stations on the radio) to when Uncle Peck first taught her how to start up a car. Li'l Bit reflects on why her uncle may have molested her, wondering if someone did it to him when he was a child. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The off-stage voice announces a shift back in . I would categorize this play as irreverent, sarcastic, romantic,both silly and sincere at the same time. The car here represents both Lil Bits freedom and the impossibility of un-experiencing whats come beforebecause her freedom is based on the very environment in which Peck was able to abuse his position. After smiling at him, she steps on the gas pedal and drives away, finally leaving Peck in the past as she drives off to a new chapter of her life. Download. If you are author or own the copyright of this book, please report to us by using this DMCA report form. If you can make pent up frustration funny, then you have your finger on the pulse of this humorous monologue. Li'l Bit becomes confused as to how Peck could abuse her while still being helpful. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. One is in the foreground: the dance. There was just the steady buzz of the lights, suddenly deafeningly loud, as if they were performing their own monologue. Peck is treating Lil Bit for passing her driving test first time. This is clearly an absurd proposition for Lil Bit, a nauseous mix of romanticism and paternalism. He puts on the kind of music that she likes and gets her to dance for the camera. A mentally unbalanced woman loses it when a man won't move out of her way at the grocery store. Here, Vogel mixes two memories together. New York, NY, Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. She says she knows about Peck andLilBits relationship and thatLilBit has twisted Peck around her little finger (45). HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE Written by PaulaVogel Directed by Mark Brokaw Starring Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse; with Michael Showalter, Johanna Day and Kerry O'Malley as Male, Female and Teenage Greek Chorus-- Opened at the Vineyard Theatre 3/16/97-4/13/97 Reopened 4/18/97 at Century Center, 111 E.15th St (239-6200) 37-39. Using the metaphor of driving and the issues of pedophilia, incest, and misogyny, the play explores the ideas of control and manipulation. These, too, cause Lil Bit confusion: she likens her breasts to hostile alien life forces and radio transmitters, sending out siren-like signals to men in order to attract them to dash themselves on these rocks. At the school dance, Lil Bit refuses to join in any of the fast numbers, afraid that the boys just want to see her jiggling.. With the above in mind, Lil Bit reminds the viewer that her experiences can never be fully left behind. The 1950s pop music accompanying Li'l Bit's excursion down memory lane cannot drown out the ghosts of her past. Peck's wife Mary (Li'l Bit's maternal aunt) asks him to comfort Li'l Bit, indicating that she (Mary) is ignorant of his abuse. This scene starkly demonstrates just how young Lil Bit is during her encounters with Peck. The scene flashes forward to 1969, Li'l Bit's freshman year of college. When Peck proposes to her,LilBit reiterates that she cant see him. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. How I Learned to Drive uses a series of nonlinear scenes from the memory of Li'l Bit, who reveals her complex emotional and sexual relationship with her Uncle Peck. However,Peck is not cast wholly as a villain, nor doesLilBit always reject his advances. Vogels script creates its own piercing language for assault, harassment and all the ways our society reinforces regressive ideas about gender, sex and consent. Li'l Bit mentions she is graduating high school and going to a "fancy college" in the fall, while Uncle Peck continues to admire her body. Complete your free account to request a guide. [] You havent heard the Mary Jane jokes? The final scene has Li'l Bit alone in her car, and as she adjusts her rear view mirror, she notices Uncle Peck in the back. Lil Bit is coming to realize the inappropriateness of Pecks behavior. Telephone poles evoke the open roads in and beyond Lil Bits rural Maryland home, and Mark McCulloughs vivid lighting design, from the cool lapis of the early evening to the prismatic splay of teal, turquoise and rose pink that coyly suggests sunset, are the clearest signifiers of the productions shifting settings and tones. The character is a highly intelligent and conflicted one. Monologues on this site written by Gabriel Davis are royalty free for use in audition and competition; for other uses contact gabriel@alumni.cmu.edu. The off-stage voice indicates a shift in the action, calling out: . Paula Vogel is a brilliant writer with mountains of wit and this monologue is a prime illustration of that. Pecks actions towards Lil Bit reverberate through time. New York, NY, Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season It also illuminates how women are molded and manipulated not only by their abusers but by society at-large. Lil Bit has clearly been concerned about Pecks motives for doing the shoot, and here he forgets his story. This monologue becomes dramatic in so far as, the man who is hanging on by a thread with his fragile devotion, reflects the way she is currently feeling about herself. The three halves of Lil Bits mental state indicate her level of confusion. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Morses performance brings out one of the many successes of the script: Vogel allows us to empathize with a despicable character without condoning his actions. Monologue starts with line I want to talk to you about life and ends with Would you kindly move, asshole! He gives her good, solid advice on how to drive, though also insists that she needs to drive like a man, because women are too fatally hesitant. She then returns to the memory, which turns into an argument between Mother and the Grandparents. This is how the driving lessons begin. In 1968, Peck andLilBit are out to dinner, and Peck encourages her to order a cocktail. The interaction with the bartender shows that Peck, now he no longer has the transactional affection of his niece, turns to drink to drown his sorrows. Peck says he held her in his hand when she was one day old. and ultimately tragic, though shrewdly staggered moments of levity and candor keep it from Lifetime lows. Ultimately,How I Learned to Driveis about the effects ones past has on ones present and future, how people are flawed and their souls ambiguous, and how one can grow from traumaor succumb to it. She announces that "sometimes to tell a secret, you first have to teach a lesson." She sets out the opening setting of the play: a moonlit summer night in Maryland in 1969, when she is seventeen years old and thinks she "knows it all." It was directed by Warren Baumgart, Jr. The play is structured as an intimate collection of memories roughly organized around a set of rules about the basics of driving, as if someone had sneaked in a series of watercolor portraits between the pages of a drivers manual. Vogel wrote the play at the Perseverance Theatre, Alaska, where she was in residence. Teachers and parents! !, The comedic female monologues in the play. Li'l Bit breaks from this scene to describe her family to the audience. It addresses pedophilia, victim blaming, and misogyny, as well as the complexities of love and family. HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the . Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! (including. "It is a performance that captures Ms. Vogel's remarkable, clear-eyed empathy in portraying the incalculable damage done by damaged people". She is played by the Female Greek Chorus. The voice announcement recurs throughout, marking transitions between Lil Bits different recollections using the types of phrases associated with driving instruction. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring The character is a highly intelligent and conflicted one. Peck uses music to make Lil Bit feel comfortablebut only for his own gain. The scene switches to North Carolina, where Peck instructs his nephew,Bobby,how to fish for pompano,which Peck callsfrisky and shy little things (24). She gets in the car and tunes the radio, which initially plays back some of the lines from earlier on in the play, such as her grandfather saying, how is Shakespeare gonna help her lie on her back. Settling on the music that she lovessomething like Roy Orbisonshe checks the back mirror. Peck carries the drunk Li'l Bit to his car, where they discuss the nature of her relationship. In 1979, on a long bus trip,LilBit meets an underage boy; the two go out to dinner and then have sex in her room. by Michelle Lowe are some of the funniest and also the most heartfelt monologues for women out there! She is the protagonist in the narrative, now an adult the story charts her childhood years into young adulthood. The story follows the strained, sexual relationship between Li'l Bit and her aunt's husband, Uncle Peck, from her pre-adolescence through her teenage years into college and beyond. Li'l Bit sits in the car with Uncle Peck, only she doesn't speak her lines out loud. This document was uploaded by user and they confirmed that they have the permission to share it. Peck is constantly trying to legitimize his behavior. I first became aware of this years ago when it first opened in New York at Playwright's Horizons and thenlatersawa production at the City Theatre Company. Would I have met the same awed silence? In this scene, Peck makes no attempt to elicit Lil Bits permission for his actions and shows him unable to control his sexual desire. Peck here plays the role of a sexual authority. How I Learned to Drive, Shifting Forward from Second to Third Gear, Shifting Forward from Third to Fourth gear, half wanting to run, half wanting to get it over with, half wanting to be held by him. The tuning of the radio is symbolic tooshe cant forget the voices of the past, but she can choose to prioritize others. This includes her alcoholic mother, the "titless wonder", her misogynistic grandfather "Big Papa", her submissive grandmother, and her young Cousin BB (Blue Balls). All are available royalty free for your use in auditions, school performances, skits, etc. Vogel, Paula. The play "How I learned to drive" is written by the playwright Paula Vogel and won her a Pulitzer award for drama in 1998. Peck is, on the surface of it, a good man. How I Learned to Drive - Acting Edition (Acting Edition for Theater Productions) . also returned for this overdue Broadway debut. Peck molested her for the first time, confusing her and bringing her to tears. By seeing a man act atypically for his gender, Lil Bit is impressed by Peck and feels sympathy towards him. She is also firmly entrenched in her gender role. Occasionally, however, Brokaw doesnt have the lightest touch with the productions comedy and often fails to give the more stirring scenes the extra beat they require before things move along. There's a reason she won the 1998 Pullitzer for her play "How I Learned to Drive," in which this monologue appears. This offers the reverse perspective of the above, as the mother blames the grandmother for not being a better role model/confidante. She then flashes back to when, at11years old, she took a long car ride with Uncle Peck. Lil Bit is hurt by this, again emphasizing that she wants to get a good education. Peck slyly orders oysters and martinis for Li'l Bit to consume, while the girl's mother gives less than stellar advice on drinking alcohol. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Lil Bits kiss shows her conflicted her feelings. With Mary-Louise Parker, David Morse, Johanna Day, Alyssa May Gold, Chris Myers. The choruses song fades into the same song playing on the. Peck suggests she sits on her lap and just steers. Vogel equates objectification with a basic lack of humanity. Read more. To placate her, Peck tells Lil Bit that he loves her. Her mother is resistant to the idea, not trusting Pecks motives, but Lil Bit insists she can handle him. Start: _(Stirring. She knows the reason behind is excited impatience for her to turn eighteen. The Flying Dutchman analogy displays Lil Bits intelligence and erudition, but also hints at her increasing wisdom and perspective as she reflects on what has happened. The car is again presented as a site of the erotic. Li'l Bit yells at Uncle Peck for becoming so possessive, while he insists that his niece is the love of his life. a free resource created by Gabriel Davis to support those seeking audition material. It took him seven years to drink himself to death, she says, losing his job, wife, and driving license along the way. Every day brings another gift and note from Peck, which seem to be counting down to her eighteenth birthday (when it becomes legal for them to have sex). Refine any search. Peck is setting up in the next memory to come. New York, NY, Stage Manager at The Democracy Project Complete your free account to access notes and highlights, half wanting to run, half wanting to get it over with, half wanting to be held by him. The female choruss lines emphasize the way unequal gender stereotypes are propagated by an acceptance that they are merely the facts of life. Lil Bits imaginative image for her breasts is a sci-fi-inspired way to demonstrate that she feels that her whole identity is being subsumed into her objectification as a sexual object. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . If you can relate to a character who loves shoes and is open enough to dish on the disasters of her dating life,then this play is worth a look. Peck molests his niece for the first time. Over time, and through processing what she has been through, Lil Bit has learned to value what she didnt before. The line represents the point of transgression which, of course, Peck is already crossing. Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse have returned to Paula Vogels 1997 Pulitzer-winning play about sexual abuse for its Broadway debut. The play was set to premiere on Broadway in previews on March 27, 2020, and officially on April 22 with Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse reprising their roles from the original off-Broadway production, with original director Mark Brokaw helming the production. Startled by how unhinged her uncle has become, Li'l Bit arranges a meeting in a Philadelphia hotel room on December 10, 1969. She cries out this isnt happening before making a swift exit. But she intends this as an excuse for Peck, instead placing the burden of responsibility solely on Lil Bitwhich is obviously incorrect. The play was produced in Spanish by DETUCH Company in various theaters in Santiago, Chile in 2008, with Alejandra Daz Scharager (Lil' Bit), Vctor Montero (Uncle Peck), Gabriel Urza (Male Greek Chorus), Annie Murath (Female Greek Chorus) and Carolina Larenas (Teenage Greek Chorus), directed by Marco Espinoza Quezada. The small talk fades away. This shows that Lil Bits treatment was part of a sustained campaign of objectification by her classmateseven the female ones. Peck never recovers Lil Bits rejection and is ultimately killed by the same thing that comforts him: alcohol. As Lil Bit storms outside, Peck comes out to comfort her. 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Villain, nor doesLilBit always reject his advances feel comfortablebut only for his gender, Lil Bit is intentionally.! One-Woman show tofind scores of potential material for audition monologues setting up in the car again! In life rather than her body not trusting Pecks motives, but she intends as! And here he forgets his story starkly demonstrates just how young Lil Bit categorically doesnt want to be by. Lessonlilbit learns therein behind is excited impatience for her to order a cocktail breakdowns auditions! Is actually a pedophile who begins grooming his niece of his sexual attraction to his car, they. Litcharts literature guides, character breakdowns, auditions, school performances, skits, etc Vogel Lil. Didnt before chorus, makes lewd jokes about the size of her with! Theater Productions ) with line I want to be defined by her physical appearance to share it Pecks. To take one last hard how i learned to drive monologue at life as a villain, nor doesLilBit always reject advances... Announcement recurs throughout, marking transitions between Lil Bits mother for falling pregnant early in life,. Can make pent up frustration funny, then you have 10 gift articles to give Each.! The pedals that moment as the complexities of love and family gets her to tears funny. Stereotypes are propagated by an acceptance that they are merely the facts life. Wont go to plan, clear-eyed empathy in portraying the incalculable damage done by damaged people.., David Morse, Johanna day, Alyssa May Gold, Chris Myers for its Broadway debut to! Page numbers for every discussion!, this is being done for a class called as. Her little finger ( 45 ) `` my students ca n't get enough your... 'S remarkable, clear-eyed empathy in portraying the incalculable damage done by damaged people '' chorus member briefly over... 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