Cost of Living examines two separate relationships that develop from places of mutual need. The first is between John, a wealthy and handsome graduate student with cerebral palsy, and his caregiver, the overworked, under-qualified and nearly homeless Jess. The second relationship includes the quadriplegic Ani and her unemployed ex-husband, Eddie. In both of the stories, which eventually collide, the biggest handicaps are the universal ones: fear and disconnection.
Cost of Living (2016). Playwright: Martyna Majok (Poland). Director: Tyne Rafaeli. Cast: Gregg Mozgala (John), Xochitl Romero (Jess), Felix Solis (Eddie), Katy Sullivan (Ani).
Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as two 2018 Lucille Lortel Awards, including Outstanding Play. It premiered in Williamstown, Massachusetts at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2016, and had an Off-Broadway engagement in 2017.
“An honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perceptions of privilege and human connection through two pairs of mismatched individuals: a former trucker and his recently paralyzed ex-wife, and an arrogant young man with cerebral palsy and his new caregiver.”
The performance is followed by Q&A. It is free and open to the public.
The event will be broadcasted online, live on Zoom. RSVP is required to receive password for free viewing. RSVP online through Eventbrite.
GREGG MOZGALA has been in various productions with The Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, La Mama ETC, Theater Breaking Through Barriers, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Kennedy Center. He received a Lucille Lortel Award (Best Featured Actor) for his work in the Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Cost Of Living” by Martyna Majok. He was nominated for a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award for the role of Richard in “Teenage Dick” by Michael Lew. Mr. Mozgala was honored as a "Champion Of Change" by The New York City Mayor's Office For People With Disabilities in 2017, and named a Kennedy Citizen Artist Fellow by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2016. Gregg is the founder and Artistic Director of The Apothetae, a theatre company dedicated to the production of works that explore and illuminate the, "Disabled Experience." He is currently the Director of Inclusion at Queens Theatre. www.greggmozgala.com
XOCHITL ROMERO’s acting credits include: To The Bone (Cherry Lane Theatre), Chimichangas and Zoloft (Atlantic Theatre), Very Pretty Girls (New World Stages), Water by the Spoonful (Stages Theatre); Queens (La Jolla Playhouse); Kill Local (La Jolla Playhouse); HisPanic Attack (The Second City Hollywood); Uncomfortably Numb (The Second City Hollywood); Mutual Philanthropy (EST/LA); The Giant Void in My Soul (Ammo Theatre); Blackbird (Hyde Park Theatre). Film/Television Credits include: ABC's The Conner's, Modern Family, CBS's NCIS, HBO's Temple Grandin, NBC's Friday Night Lights, YouTube's Going Viral. Romero's short film, Bernie, will premiere at SXSW 2021, as a "Special Jury Selection." Her series, Are You Okay, debuts on FX next spring. Winner of 2020 Ovation Award, 'Best Supporting Actress' and 'Best Ensemble.'
FELIX SOLIS is a recognizable face to many after spending the past two decades creating an impressive body of theatrical work in film, television and theatre. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix considers himself a true New Yorker - or rather a Nuyorican. Felix started booking film and television gigs starting with shows set in NYC such as New York Undercover, NYPD Blue and Third Watch and the film Empire (starring opposite John Leguizamo and Peter Sarsgaard). Soon Hollywood started to take notice and Felix appeared in acclaimed television Shows such as The West Wing, OZ, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Damages and Fringe (to name only a few); and numerous films such as The Forgotten (opposite Julianne Moore), Wes Craven’s My Soul To Take, Man On A Ledge (opposite Sam Worthington and Ed Harris) and Arbitrage (opposite Tim Roth). With his roots in theatre, Felix has also continued to work on stage receiving the HOLA 2013 Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for the production of Basilica at New York’s prestigious Cherry Lane Theatre; a Connecticut Critics Circle Award in 2008 for Boleros For The Disenchanted and a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Passion Play in 2006. He is especially proud of a letter Al Pacino wrote him to thank him for his performance in the original production of Our Lady Of 121st Street with the LAByrinth Theatre Company of which he has been a member since 1999. www.felixsolis.net
KATY SULLIVAN is an award winning actress, producer, writer, athlete and bilateral above knee amputee. She grew up in Alabama, performing in theatre and received a BFA in acting from Webster University’s Conservatory in St. Louis. As an actress, she has performed all over the US, including in The Long Read Road at the Goodman Theatre directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and more recently in Finish Line: A Documentary Play about the 2013 Boston Marathon at the Shubert Theatre. Sullivan starred in the 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Cost of Living at Manhattan Theatre Club, after the World Premiere of the same show at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her portrayal of Ani has gained her the following recognition: Champion of Change Award from the Office of the Mayor of New York City, Berkshire Theatre Critic's Choice Best Female Performance (2016), Theatre World Award (2018), Ovation Award Best Ensemble (2020) and Nominations: Berkshire Theatre Award (2016), Lucille Lortel Award (2018), Drama League Award (2018), Outer Critic's Circle Award (2018), Ovation Award Best Leading Actress (2020). Katy is also a four time US Champion in the 100m. She was among the first bilateral above the knee amputees to compete in the Paralympics in ambulatory track when she ran in the London 2012 Paralympic Games, setting a new American record of 17.33s and finishing 6th in the World. www.katysullivan.net
TYNE RAFAELI is a British-American director based in New York. She directs new plays, classics and musicals in London and the US. Recent productions include Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer at Roundabout Theatre Company which was nominated for multiple Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Direction. She also recently directed Power Strip by Sylvia Khoury at Lincoln Center Theatre. The Coast Starlight by Keith Bunin at La Jolla Playhouse and I Was Most Alive with You by Craig Lucas at Playwright’s Horizons. Her work has also been seen at the Public theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, MTC, Classis Stage Company, the Atlantic Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse, Playwright’s Realm, Cal Shakes, New York Stage & Film, among others. Tyne was 2016-18 Time Warner Directing Fellow at the Women’s Project Theatre and received the 2014 SDC Sir John Gielgud Fellowship for Classic Direction. She previously served as Associate Director to Bartlett Sher on various Broadway and West End productions. She trained at the Guildhall School of Musical and Drama in London and Columbia University.
MARTYNA MAJOK was born in Bytom, Poland and aged in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club). Other plays include Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop), Queens (LCT3/Lincoln Center, La Jolla Playhouse), and Ironbound (Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Round House, WP Theatre/Rattlestick, Geffen Playhouse, National Theatre of Warsaw, amongst other theatres in America and abroad). Awards include The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, ATCA Francesca Primus Prize, The Dramatists Guild's Lanford Wilson Award, The Lilly Awards' Stacey Mindich Prize, The Greenfield Prize (first female recipient in drama), Champions of Change Award from the NYC Mayor's Office, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical at The Helen Hayes Awards, The Ashland New Plays Festival Women’s Invitational Prize, The Kennedy Center's Jean Kennedy Smith Award, Marin Theatre’s David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project Prize, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, two Jane Chambers Feminist Playwriting Prizes, and The Merage Foundation Fellowship for the American Dream. Commissions from The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, The Bush Theatre in London, The Almeida Theatre in London, The Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Publications by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, TCG, and Smith & Kraus. Residencies at Sundance Theatre Lab in Morocco, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, The Vineyard Arts Project with The Public Theatre, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Fuller Road, Marble House Project, and Ragdale. BA: University of Chicago; MFA: Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School. She has taught playwriting at Williams College, Wesleyan University, SUNY Purchase, Primary Stages ESPA, NJRep, and as an assistant to Paula Vogel at Yale. Alumna of EST's Youngblood, Women's Project Lab, and the Core Writer program at Playwrights Center. Member of The Dramatists Guild, The Writers Guild of America East, and New York Theatre Workshop’s Usual Suspects. Martyna was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center, and a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. She is currently writing two musical librettos, developing an original series for HBO and writing a film, also for HBO.
ABOUT THE 2020 SPRING WEEKEND
The 2020 Spring Weekend is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (VHLF) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), in partnership with Polish Cultural Institute New York and Untitled Theater Company #61. Spring Weekend is part of the annual Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival honoring the playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel. It showcases contemporary European plays through stage readings performed and directed by New York City-based actors and directors. The program has been conceived in consultation with Attila Szabo, Deputy Director, Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute; Vladislava Fekete, Director, Theatre Institute in Bratislava; Zuzana Ulicianska, Chair of the Slovak Center - International Association of Theatre Critics; and Tomek Smolarski, Performing Arts Programming, Polish Cultural Institute New York.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
All Spring Weekend productions are FREE. Today we ask you to make a donation of $5, or any amount you can. You can donate here or when you register for an event through Eventbrite. All proceeds will benefit children from New York City schools in Elmhurst, Queens, which has been one of the worst hit neighborhoods by COVID-19. Your contribution will allow us to buy colored pencils and other art supplies for children whose parents are often essential workers and first responders. Every dollar counts!