Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser to Star in How I Learned to Drive

By Kenneth Jones
08 Nov 2011

Norbert Leo Butz
Norbert Leo Butz

The new Off-Broadway production of Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, her dark Pulitzer Prize-winning coming-of-age play, will co-star two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz and Emmy Award nominee Elizabeth Reaser, Second Stage Theatre announced on Nov. 8.

Kate Whoriskey directs. Previews will begin Jan. 24, 2012, toward a Feb. 13 opening night.

Butz won Tonys for his work in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Catch Me If You Can. Reaser appeared in "Twilight" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Acccording to Second Stage Theatre, How I Learned to Drive "explores the complex relationship between Li'l Bit (Reaser) and her Uncle Peck (Butz), as a series of driving lessons progresses from innocence to something much darker. Told with surprising wit, Paula Vogel's acclaimed play is returning to New York City for the first time since its world premiere 15 years ago."

Reaser earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in the drama "Sweet Land," and also received an Emmy nomination for her guest spot as Ava on "Grey’s Anatomy." She is matriarch of the Cullen clan in the popular "Twilight" films.

Elizabeth Reaser

Butz's other Broadway credits include Enron, Speed-the-Plow, Is He Dead?, Wicked (original cast, Fiyero), Thou Shalt Not (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics nominations) and Rent. Off-Broadway credits include Fifty Words, Buicks (Drama Desk nomination), The Last Five Years (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations, Drama League Award), Juno and the Paycock (Roundabout) and Saved (TFANA).

Vogel's plays include The Baltimore Waltz, Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, The Oldest Profession, And Baby Makes Seven, Hot 'N Throbbing, The Mineola Twins, The Long Christmas Ride Home and Civil War Christmas, among others.

Performances play Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd Street). For tickets or more information, visit www.2ST.com.