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Photo by Don Kellogg

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Cost of Living

In Martyna Majok's new play, Cost of Living, we come to realize the cost she is speaking of is mostly the emotional one.  What does it cost a handicapped person?  Is it cheaper to be a survivor of some sort?

Through her at times raw dialogue, Ms. Majok shows us that everyone's life matters, everyone's situation drives them in different directions.  But in the end, we are all in the same boat.

Eddie (Victor Williams) is a survivor and a fighter; Jess (Jolly Abraham) is a mysterious gal who may or may not have gone to Princeton and is working several odd jobs in bars just to make ends meet.; John (Gregg Mozgala) has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheel chair and is quite smart and seems to have lots of money; Ani (Katy Sullivan) is a new double amputee searching for her new meaning Eddie and Ani are struggling thru marriage, separation, and the accident;  John and Jess are struggling thru a new employer/employee relationship and the mixed signals that are sent/received.

The connections and emotion in the dialogues are fantastic.  It felt like Ms. Majok must have been either disabled or at least a caretaker herself to write such human and meaningful prose.  The actors themselves (Mr. Mozgala and Ms. Abraham) are both physically disabled (they are not acting) so the connections they are able to make are un-attainable by just a healthy person sitting in a wheel chair.

Jo Bonney likely had a very easy time directing these fine actors but I am sure she put her artistic stamp on this already fine production too.