Cost of Living is the story of four very different people, in four very different circumstances, each trying to get by. Eddie, an unemployed truck driver, reunites with his ex-wife Ani after she suffers a devastating accident. John, a brilliant and witty doctoral student, hires over-worked Jess, a caregiver. As their lives intersect, Majok’s play delves into the chasm between abundance and need and explores the space where bodies — abled and disabled — meet each other. Obie Award-winner Jo Bonney directs.

Currently playing at the Manhattan Theater Club, the brilliant and heartbreaking new play Cost of Living tackles the different types of privilege that influence two relationships. As these two relationships unfold — one a brand new professional arrangement that may turn into a more meaningful bond and one a reconnection between a separated husband and wife — the play uncovers what it means to need another human being. We sat down with playwright Martyna Majok to learn about her process creating the story, taking it from her original, shorter play John, Who’s Here From Cambridge and turning it into Cost of Living.  What inspired you to tell this story? What do you hope audiences take away from it? The first piece of this play that I actually wrote was Eddie’s opening monologue. Cost of Living started from a place of grief and loss. I realize this in retrospect. Often I’ll start writing something and not realize where it came from until I’m looking back. I was in a very particular part of my life when that first monologue arrived in my imagination. I had just moved to NYC that year, in August. It was January. I had very little money. And I had just lost my survival job that week. I …Read more