Memories and milestones

Keira Loughran has deep ties to the Asian community. Her grandmother, Jean Lumb, was the first Chinese-Canadian woman to receive the Order of Canada - she was instrumental in changing Canada's immigration laws that separated Chinese families.

Nowadays, Loughran is honouring her roots, directing the play Pu-Erh, which chronicles the obstacles a Chinese-Canadian family faces when they move from their homeland. The play runs all month in honour of Asian Heritage Month. It opens tonight at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto and Loughran will be driving her Japanese car, a 2003 Mazda Protege5 hatchback, to the premiere.

"It's sporty, fun, youthful, practical, handy, and convenient - it's a nice drive," she says.

It also marked a milestone in her life when she bought it back in 2007. "It's the memories that you build up in cars. I got this car right when I was in a new phase of life, starting a new job and getting into a new relationship. So there's some good memories with this car," says Loughran, who is associate director of dramaturgy and new plays at the Stratford Festival.

"The best memory was the first time we put our baby in the car and we had to figure out how to put a car seat in," laughs Loughran, who has a nine-month-old son named Emile with her partner, Varrick.

She loves the space and style of her hatchback. "When I was little, I saw more hatchbacks. I always thought hatchbacks were more fun than regular cars. I've always been into Japanese cars generally. I grew up with Toyotas and I switched to Mazda because servicing was a bit easier in Stratford."

Her favourite feature on the Protege5 is the gear shifter. "There's a sporty feature on it. You can pretend you're driving a stick even though you're driving an automatic," she laughs. "You can decide what gears it's going to be in, but you don't have to deal with the clutch. For a girl who doesn't drive stick, it's fun to play with especially when you're on the highway to break up the drive."

Her vehicle is pretty basic - the only luxury is air conditioning, a feature her last car didn't have. "I'm not interested in the souped-up thing. I'm more practical. The car is the luxury."

Her last vehicle was also a Protege, but it was a sedan model, handed-down from her sister.

"When we were kids we shared our mom's car. My sister ended up inheriting it when I went out of town. She felt she owed me. So when she bought another car, she decided to give it to me rather than trade it in and get some cash off of it. She didn't think it would last very long. But I actually drove it for four more years."

But it wasn't trouble-free driving. "I was out in Meat Cove, Nova Scotia, on a cross country trip and my centre resonating pipe fell off on the highway! So we had to camp in a park and get it fixed up. But it made it the rest of the way home," she says proudly.

Loughran may not be a car nut, but she knows her way around a wrench. "I had to change a flat tire on my old car. I had to use the jacks that come with the car. But I did it all by myself.

"It was exciting!" says Loughran who is also a writer and actor. She starred, wrote and co-directed Little Dragon about a third-generation Chinese-Canadian woman who believes she is the illegitimate daughter of martial arts guru Bruce Lee.

"The stupidest thing I've done is lock my keys in the car with the engine running. And my baby was locked in the car! Luckily I was at the dealership so they helped me out."

Loughran loves the open road. "I like travelling. I like road trips - driving up north to go camping, driving out east, going to Montreal. Good company. Good tunes. I listen to Canadian music - Indie, alternative. I'm a CBC junkie."

She's planning a family road trip to Newfoundland, where her partner is from. "We're going this summer - hopefully that will be the best new memory. We're driving in our car with the baby. It'll be fun. We're driving from one end of the island to the other."

"I like to drive fast. I'm a bit of a lead-foot driver. But very safe. I have more parking tickets than speeding tickets. I tend to weave. I don't tailgate," says Loughran, who grew up in Toronto and now divides her time between Stratford and Toronto.

Loughran plans to stick with Japanese cars. "I tend to be loyal to my cars. I'd like to drive it as long as I can. It's serving us pretty well now. I do take better care of this one than I did of the last one probably because I had to invest money in it and I like it."

But surprisingly, if she could afford her dream car it wouldn't be Japanese. "I've wanted a Jeep since I was in Grade 3. My teacher had this awesome khaki Jeep that looked like an army Jeep convertible. It was a lot of fun.

"I've always kept an eye on those. I'd like something that could do the off-road thing. But I wouldn't go any bigger than a Jeep Cherokee."

pgentile@globeandmail.com