In January 2014, on a freezing and blizzardy New York night, Martyna Majok came home to her sublet from her bartending job filled with rage and sadness. In her first year living in New York City, she was dealing with profound financial insecurity.
Martyna Majok
“It was a precarious time, and I was hopping from apartment to apartment,” she recalls of her endless stream of sublets. To make matters worse, her very close family member living in Poland had passed away suddenly and Majok couldn’t afford to get back to the country where she was born.
And now she was jobless. “I got fired from my bartending job because they thought I stole $100, which I didn't, but still got fired for it,” says Majok. “What am I doing?” she thought.
But from this place of grief, when she was seeking some kind of miracle, she began to write. “I started writing this monologue for Eddie Torres,” shares Majok. “He is at a bar and gets a text from the number of his former wife who just recently died.”
Over the course of a year, she chiseled away on the play adding more characters and connecting their stories. “I had to work a bunch of survival jobs and didn't have much time to calmly sit and write a play,” she says. “I didn't have a desk to sit at, but little scenes would come to me. I began to figure out what these disparate stories were trying to say to each other and what the characters were trying to say to me.”
The play evolved to having four richly dawn characters. John, a wealthy, determined and privileged man getting his PhD from Princeton, has cerebral palsy. He has hired Jess to be his private caretaker. While Jess has a degree from Princeton, she has neither wealth nor privilege and is experiencing crippling financial peril.
Eddie, who was fired for driving drunk on his long-haul trucking job is now taking care of Ani, his estranged wife who hilariously says exactly what’s on her mind. Ani was in a horrific car accident that left her a quadriplegic. Despite the walls they all put up, they need each other desperately. Devoid of stereotypes, the characters intertwine in myriad and unexpected ways.
In Cost of Living these four unique souls organically delve into class, economics, gender, interdependency, race and the struggle to feel heard in a world that doesn’t hear you. And Majok manages to do all this with a sharp wit.
When director Jo Bonney was asked to read Cost Of Living, the subject line in her agent’s email to her was ‘read this before you say ‘no,’” says Bonney who was in the midst of a very busy period “My agent knew I wanted to take some time off,” recalls the director who was enthralled from the get-go.
“The play has such a heart. Page after page, I was delighted with Martyna's use of language and specificity in terms of the characters and the circumstances. It’s so specific, but at the same time, so universal,” observes Bonney. “Every character is struggling. Survival is about money, yes. But it’s also about sense of self and feeling like you are wanted.”
Bonney found the intimate play to be epic in scope. “It creates the big questions of who we are, how we move around and care for each other and how we make ourselves vulnerable in order to connect with each other,” she shares. “It literally asks, What is the cost of living? How do we look after ourselves as a community and society?”
In 2018, after a critically lauded run Off Broadway at MTC, (Manhattan Theatre Club), Cost of Living won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Next month the play makes its debut on Broadway at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Original cast members Katy Sullivan (Ani) and Gregg Mozgala (John) are joined by David Zayas and Kara Young who are taking on the roles of Eddie and Jess respectively. “To Martyna’s great credit, when it comes to characters with disabilities, we're not used to seeing people who are this complex, this dynamic, this human and this complicated,” says Gregg Mozgala.
“The play actually cracked open that little part of me that is more aware and sensitive to what others are dealing with, literally on every level—economic, emotional, physical,” observes Bonney who is directing Cost of Living for its Broadway run. “When we go to the theater and share stories, we hope it cracks people's minds and hearts open a little. That's what this play has done for me. And I hope it does that for others. Plus, it uses humor to enter the characters’ lives and disarms us.”
For Katy Sullivan playing Ani again was particularly meaningful. “It's interesting to be away from a character for a couple of years and then get to put those pants back on,” says Sullivan. “I missed her.”
Sullivan is particularly drawn to Majok’s characters. So many women who Martyna writes have a toughness, a core of strength. They say, “I can do this on my own” even when they can't. And having such a huge conflict between, “I can do it myself” and “no, actually, you can't” is such a cool dynamic to play as an actor.
Majok shares that revisiting the characters after all these years was emotional for her but also healing. “During our first read many of us in the room were surprised by how much the themes hit us now,” shares Majok. “I hope that other people experience that as well. Bringing it to a wider audience will maybe help people feel in communion about some of the things that we've gone through, especially the past two years. Hopefully it will be a cathartic experience that is also sexy and fun.”
The Cost of Living cast and creative team. (From left) Katy Sullivan, David Zayas, Jo Bonney, Gregg ... [+]
Jeryl Brunner: Why is it important for you to write plays?
Martyna Majok: I never feel as fully alive when working on a play. I find out what my plays are about on opening night. The reason for me to write plays is that I have some churning question or feeling that I don't quite understand yet. I want to spend some time with it to better understand myself and other people. I hate writing. It's so difficult. But I go through it because at the end, I feel like a fuller version of myself. And the play becomes smarter than I ever could have been on my own.
Brunner: What went through your mind when you first learned about Cost Of Living?
Katy Sullivan: I was originally sent the script the week of Valentine's day in 2017. As I sat outside reading, I had two immediate feelings. I was terrified. Ani scared me. I saw her vulnerability and the whole aspect of playing somebody who has gone through what she's gone through. And in that same breath, I realized as an artist, those are the things that you want to fight to be able to do. Do the things that scare you. I felt, wow, I'm really scared to do this. So, I probably should try.
Kara Young: When I first read the play I stopped and had a full-on rollercoaster of emotions. I thought, my God, what is next?
Brunner: What qualities do your characters have that you adore?
Kara Young: I love Jess so much because she reminds me of the people in my family, people who work really hard without reward. At one point she probably thought that life would be very different because of her prestigious education. She worked so hard to get into Princeton. But capitalism only favors a few and nepotism only works for those who know the right people.
Katy Sullivan: Ani is fun, smart, sarcastic and witty, which is delicious. And I get to look into David’s face and say all these things and have such an incredible scene partner.”
Gregg Mozgala: John is tenacious. He is dealing with a lot and had many obstacles just to get where he has gotten in his life. He’s incredibly intelligent and funny. Whatever he has going on inside, he thinks, I’m living in this world and will live to the fullest. That kind of inner strength and iron will belie the apparent physical vulnerability he has. Just to get up and go to the store takes a lot. And here he is going to Princeton and studying for his PhD. John wants to be on MSNBC or CNN. And he’s saying, “there’s no reason why I can't do that.” If he wants to get there he will.
David Zayas: David Eddie is a blue-collar guy with a big heart who always tries to do the right thing. But somehow his flaws get in the way. And things sometimes don't go his way. But regardless of that, Eddie has so much love for Ani. He doesn't know how to express it. Eddie is also the kind of guy who can succumb to pity. But then he immediately catches himself and is back up using humor and positivity. It’s a journey from beginning to end.
