New York Times
‘Cost of Living’ Review: Worth Its Weight in Gold
Cost of Living
By Martyna Majok
Directed by Jo Bonney
With Gregg Mozgala, Katy Sullivan, Kara Young, David Zayas
ON BROADWAY AT THE
SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE
Opened Monday, October 3, 2022.
Closed Sunday, November 6, 2022.
Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize, Martyna Majok's powerhouse play receives its Broadway premiere after a celebrated run at MTC's Stage I. Hailed by The New York Times as "gripping, immensely haunting and exquisitely attuned," this insightful, intriguing work is about the forces that bring people together, the complexity of caring and being cared for, and the ways we all need each other in this world. Kara Young and David Zayas join acclaimed original stars Gregg Mozgala and Katy Sullivan in this production, again directed by Obie Award winner Jo Bonney.
Masks are required for all guests while visiting the theatre. Proof of vaccination will not be required.
This show is recommended for those ages 12 and up.
This show contains nudity.
Runtime is 1 hour and 50 minutes with no intermission.
“COST OF LIVING left me breathless. This outstanding work of art is WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD.”
The New York Times
“SENSATIONAL!The kind of theater that imprints on the body and lives in your bones.And, oh — how you’ll laugh!”
Variety
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Rush policy
Accessibility
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Manhattan Theatre Club produces a wide range of theatre both on and off-Broadway. In a history spanning almost 50 years, they have won 27 Tony Awards, 7 Pulitzer Prizes, and developed into one of the country’s most acclaimed theatres.
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Student tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show when the box office opens. Tickets are $30 (including all fees), payable by cash or credit card, and are available to students with an ID from a degree or diploma granting institution. Tickets are subject to availability and are limited to two per valid ID. Note that students aged 35 or under may prefer to purchase their tickets through the 30 Under 35 program instead – see above.
TodayTix Rush
A limited number of $35 rush tickets for each performance are available the day of the show at TodayTix.com. Rush tickets are subject to availability and blackout.
Student Rush
Student rush tickets are available at the box office on the day of the show when the box office opens. Tickets are $30 (including all fees), payable by cash or credit card, and are available to students with an ID from a degree or diploma granting institution. Tickets are subject to availability and are limited to two per valid ID. Note that anyone aged 35 or under may prefer to purchase their tickets through the 30 Under 35 program instead.
Click here for a seating chart. The Friedman Theatre seats 650. Seating is on Orchestra, Premier Circle and Mezzanine levels—all seating accessible by elevator. For more information on accessibility, please click here.
Proof of vaccination will not be required for audience members. Masks are required for all guests, and must be worn at all times while visiting the theatre, except when eating or drinking in designated areas. All masks must completely cover the nose and mouth and comply with the CDC guidelines for acceptable face coverings. Guests who do not comply with these policies will be denied entry or asked to leave the theatre. Protocols are subject to change.
“RESONANT AND PROVOCATIVE!Unlike any play that ever has been on Broadway before.”
Chicago Tribune
“GRIPPING, INVIGORATING AND UNEXPECTED!”
New York Post
Cast
Gregg Mozgala
John
Gregg has been in various productions with The Public Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Huntington, Woolly Mammoth 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.
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.”
Katy Sullivan
Ani
Katy Sullivan is an award-winning actor who originated the role of Ani in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Cost of Living. Her performance won her Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and Ovation Award nominations, along with a Theatre World Award. On television, she was most recently seen as the nosy police dispatcher, Esther, on the reboot of Showtime’s “Dexter: New Blood.” Katy is also a Paralympic athlete, a four-time U.S. Champion in the 100m, and set an American Record at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Kara Young
Jess
Kara Young made her Broadway debut in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.
The New York Times called her performance “quick witted” and The Hollywood Reporter hailed her as “outstanding.” She recently received the inaugural Florence Mills Rising Star Awards at the first ever Black Women on Broadway ceremony.
She will next appear as a series regular in “I’m A Virgo” for Amazon, created by Boots Riley.
Young can previously be seen in the Amazon feature Chemical Hearts alongside Lilli Reinhart and Austin Abrams. Prior to this, she appeared in HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness” and Netflix’s “The Punisher.” She also starred in Hair Wolf, the winner of the Sundance 2018 Short Film Jury Awards: US Fiction. Before the pandemic, Kara was starring in the MCC Theater’s All The Natalie Portmans, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. Her many other stage credits include Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, The New Englanders, The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d, Syncing Ink, and Pretty Hunger. She also appeared in four seasons of MTV’s “Girl Code.”
She can currently be seen on the HBO Max original “The Staircase.”
David Zayas
Eddie
David Zayas is best known for his role as Angel Batista on the award-winning series “Dexter” (Showtime). Other television work includes “OZ” (HBO), “Shut Eye” (Hulu), “Gotham” (Fox), “Bloodline” (Netflix), “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “FBI” (CBS), “Pose” (F/X), and “Next” (Fox) among others. He has appeared in the films The Interpreter, 16 Blocks, Michael Clayton, The Expendables, Ride, Tallulah, Shine, Annie, Body Cam, Force of Nature, and R#J. David began his acting career with LAByrinth Theater Company in 1992. Productions include In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, Jesus Hopped the A Train, and Our Lady of 121st Street all written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. His latest projects include Devil of Choice by Maggie Diaz Bofill and Divine Horseman written and directed by Paul Calderon. On Broadway, he appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz and directed by Emily Mann.
Ezioma Asonye
u/s Jess
Ezioma Asonye is overjoyed to be making her Broadway debut! Regional Theater: Mlima’s Tale (Repertory Theatre, St. Louis), School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play (Pittsburgh Public Theater), Human Again (Auburn Public Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ovalhouse Theatre, London). Television: “That Damn Michael Che” (HBO Max), “Love Life” (HBO Max). Training: The New School for Drama (MFA 2019). Warm hugs and thanks to nne and nna, Ruben Daniel, Grams, Ebun, Ariel, Junior, my friends and church family, my incredible manager Rochel at SAKS&, David Caparelliotis & Kelly Gillespie. 2 Cor 4:16-18.
Erick Betancourt
u/s Eddie
Erick Betancourt makes his Broadway debut! NY: Romeo Y Julieta (dir. Saheem Alli), Our Lady Of 121st Street (dir. Phylicia Rashad), Jesus Hopped the A Train (dir. Mark Brokaw), Julius Caesar (dir. Oskar Eustis), Shakespeare Trilogy (dir. Phyllida Lloyd), Last Days Of Judas… (dir. Estelle Parsons). Regional: The Prince of Providence (World premiere). TV: “Blue Bloods”, “New Amsterdam”, “For Life”, “Blacklist: Redemption”, “Broad City”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Master of None”, “Sneaky Pete”.
2020 Theater Hall of Fame Emerging Theater Artist Award. Member of Actors Studio and LAByrinth Theater Company.
Regan Linton
u/s Ani
Regan’s regional credits: Change Agent (Arena Stage); Much Ado About Nothing, Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (Oregon Shakespeare Festival);The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mixed Blood Theatre); Marginalia (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); Blood and Gifts (La Jolla Playhouse); Into the Woods, Man of La Mancha, Side Show (Phamaly). Regan is co-director of the documentary imperfect (2021) about disabled theatre actors, and spent 5 years as Artistic Director of Phamaly Theatre Company in Denver. Training: MFA, UC San Diego. Regan lives with a T-4 complete spinal cord injury. reganlinton.com
Ian Reier Michaels
u/s John
Ian Reier Michaels is an actor and writer of musicals, based in Los Angeles. He is honored to be a part of this team. His recent theater credits include Future Court: The Bindy Lipton Massacre (Bindy Lipton); Parliament (Professor Tiberius Emeritus); Max’s Nasty House (Max’s Nifty Dad); Turkeys, The Musical! (which Ian also wrote, role of Eric). Film and T.V.: He recently portrayed Robert Towne on Paramount +’s “The Offer”; his upcoming films include The Secret Diary of a Cheerleader, and The Family Tree. His new musical, X-Mas, The Musical! will premiere in Los Angeles this December.
Gregg Mozgala
John
Katy Sullivan
Ani
Kara Young
Jess
David Zayas
Eddie
Ezioma Asonye
u/s Jess
Erick Betancourt
u/s Eddie
Regan Linton
u/s Ani
Ian Reier Michaels
u/s John
Creative
Jo Bonney
Director
Jo Bonney has directed premieres of plays by: Alan Ball, Hilary Bettis, Eric Bogosian, Eleanor Burgess, Hammaad Chaudry, Culture Clash, Eve Ensler, Jessica Goldberg, Isaac Gomez, Danny Hoch, Ione Patricia Lloyd, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Martyna Majok, Lynn Nottage, Dan O’Brien, Dael Orlandersmith, Suzan-Lori Parks,, Darci Picoult, John Pollono, Will Power, David Rabe, Jose Rivera, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Christopher Shinn, Diana Son, Universes, Naomi Wallace, Michael Weller. Productions of plays by: Caryl Churchill, Nilo Cruz, Anna Deavere Smith, Charles Fuller, Lisa Loomer, Paul Lucas, Carey Perloff, Lanford Wilson. She is the recipient of two Obie Awards for Sustained Excellence of Direction, Lucille Lortel Best Musical and Lucille Lortel Best Revival, Drama Desk nomination for Direction of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, and Alliance and Lilly Award. Audelco Award for Father Comes Home from the Wars. Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Cost of Living. Editor of Extreme Exposure: An Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the Twentieth Century (TCG).
Martyna Majok
Playwright
Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages. Awards include The Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin Hadley Danks Award for Exceptional Playwriting, The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, The Greenfield Prize, as the first female recipient in drama, The Champions of Change Award from the NYC Mayor’s Office, The Francesca Primus Prize, two Jane Chambers Playwriting Awards, The Lanford Wilson Prize, The Lilly Award’s Stacey Mindich Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play from The Helen Hayes Awards, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, ANPF Women’s Invitational Prize, David Calicchio Prize, Global Age Project Prize, NYTW 2050 Fellowship, NNPN Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, and Merage Foundation Fellowship for The American Dream. Martyna studied at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, University of Chicago, and Jersey public schools. She 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. Martyna is currently writing a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett, and developing TV and film for HBO, Plan B, and Pastel.
Wilson Chin
scenic design
Broadway: Pass Over (Drama Desk and Lortel Award nominations), Next Fall. Off-Broadway: The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons), Space Dogs (MCC, Lortel Award nomination), Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/The Public), Sakina’s Restaurant (Audible), Informed Consent (Primary Stages), By the Water (MTC/Ars Nova). Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Eine Florentinische Tragödie/ Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award winner). Film/television: Pass Over (dir. Spike Lee), “Game Theory With Bomani Jones” (HBO), “Blindspot” (NBC). Eastern region board member of Local USA 829. A monograph of Wilson’s work was published by The Scenographer. Instagram: @wilsonchindesign
Jessica Pabst
costume design
With MTC: Cost of Living, The Ruins of Civilization, By the Water, When We Were Young and Unafraid, Murder Ballad. Broadway: Marvin’s Room, The Heidi Chronicles. New York productions include world premieres at Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center, Second Stage, The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company. Regional theatre credits include productions with the Goodman Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf, Two River, Dallas Theater Center, Children’s Theatre Company and Center Theatre Group. Jessica was the recipient of the 2013 Lucille Lortel for Best Costume Design for The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter. Drama Desk, Henry Hewes nominations.
Jeff Croiter
lighting design
Broadway productions include Freestyle Love Supreme, Bandstand, Falsettos, Holiday Inn, Something Rotten!, Penn & Teller, Newsies, Peter and the Starcatcher, Jekyll and Hyde, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Mothers and Sons and Next Fall, among others. Off-Broadway includes Cost of Living, HYPROV, Black No More, Beyond Babel, Mac Beth, The Other Josh Cohen, Jerry Springer the Opera, Head of Passes, Tiny Beautiful Things and The Last Five Years. Jeff has received Tony, Hewes, Bass and Tina Awards and nominations for Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, Ovation, NAACP, Irne and Audelco Awards. He is a producer of Submissions Only, 4Wall Roundtable and the animated series “Light Humor.”
Rob Kaplowitz
sound design
Robert has spent the last 28 years designing sound and composing; he has been honored with an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design and a Tony for Fela! He is delighted to return to Cost of Living. His work has been heard previously at MTC on Skeleton Crew and Pumpgirl. He also creates art installations, runs Nine Hostage Arts in Philadelphia, teaches at Princeton, creates sound for opera films, is a co-founder of We Embrace Fatherhood (a West Philly advocacy organization), serves as an ambassador for the Prague Quadrennial and loves his family more than anything else.
Mikaal Sulaiman
original music
Broadway: Macbeth (Tony nom), Thoughts of a Colored Man. Off-Broadway: Sanctuary City (Drama Desk nom); On Sugarland (premiere); Fairview (Drama Desk nom); Rags Parkland (Drama Desk nom); Passage (premiere); Continuity (premiere); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Thanksgiving Play; Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; Underground Railroad Game; The Institute of Memory; Skittles the Broadway Musical. Recipient: Creative Capital Award, Henry Hewes Award and CTG Sherwood Award. Head of sound design MFA program at Yale University. mikaal.com
Thomas Schall
movement consultant
On Broadway, over 100 shows. The Kite Runner, Company, A Soldier’s Play (Drama Desk Award, outstanding fight choreography), To Kill a Mockingbird, True West, The Inheritance, Network, The Front Page, War Horse, The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, Venus in Fur, Romeo and Juliet. At the Public Theater: Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice. At NYTW: Othello (Drama Desk nomination, outstanding fight choreography), Red Speedo. At the Armory: Judgement Day, The Hairy Ape (Drama Desk nomination, outstanding fight choreography). At the Met Opera: Nozze de Figaro, Il Trovatore, Tosca, Samson et Dalila.
The Telsey Office
original casting
With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theatre, film, television and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability and advocacy.
Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie
casting
Select Broadway: Macbeth, The Minutes, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Ink, The Waverly Gallery, Boys in the Band, Three Tall Women, A Doll’s House Part 2, Jitney, The Glass Menagerie. Select theatre: Signature NY, Atlantic, The Old Globe, New York Theatre Workshop, Vineyard. TV: “New Amsterdam” series casting (NBC); “Boys in the Band” original casting (Netflix).
David Lurie-Perret
Production Stage Manager
With MTC: Cost of Living (Stage I), The Nap, Prince of Broadway, Losing Louie, We Live Here, Equivocation, From Up Here, Beauty of the Father. Broadway: Girl From the North Country, Speed-the-Plow. Touring: The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Silver Tassie with Druid (Ireland, US). Off-Broadway: Shed, The Public, Signature, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, Roundabout, MCC, Atlantic. Regional: CTG, A.C.T., Huntington, Williamstown, Long Wharf, Dallas Theater Center. Graduate of Boston University. My thanks and gratitude to Amanda and Narissa. Love to Cody.
Amanda Kosack
stage manager
Broadway debut! National tours: School of Rock (first national); Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story; Fela! Off-Broadway: Long Lost, Cost of Living (MTC); Medea (BAM); Wakey, Wakey, Old Hats, Medieval Play, The Lady From Dubuque (Signature Theatre); All the Ways to Say I Love You (MCC); Cloud Nine (Atlantic Theater Company); The Way We Get By (Second Stage). Regional: Trinity Rep, Surflight Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Oklahoma City University graduate. Love and thanks to Mom, Dad and Jared.
Ellen Goldberg
stage manager
Broadway: She Loves Me, Dames at Sea, Gigi. National Tours: The Prom (First National), Anastasia (First National). Off-Broadway: The Last Match (Roundabout); Sell/Buy/Date (Manhattan Theatre Club); Kings (WP Theater) Ghost Stories (Atlantic Theater Company); A Month in the Country (Classic Stage Company); Kung Fu (Signature Theatre), Fun Home (The Public Theater), Irma La Douce (Encores!). Regional: A Walk On The Moon (George Street Playhouse), Soft Power (Center Theatre Group); Dangerous House, The Closet, Where Storms Are Born, Poster Boy (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Cloud 9 (Hartford Stage); Back Home Again (Lesher Center for the Arts); Little Dancer (The Kennedy Center). Graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center.
Jo Bonney
Director
Martyna Majok
Playwright
Wilson Chin
scenic design
Jessica Pabst
costume design
Jeff Croiter
lighting design
Rob Kaplowitz
sound design
Mikaal Sulaiman
original music
Thomas Schall
movement consultant
The Telsey Office
original casting
Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie
casting
David Lurie-Perret
Production Stage Manager
Amanda Kosack
stage manager
Ellen Goldberg
stage manager
Photos
David Zayas in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Gregg Mozgala, Kara Young in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
Katy Sullivan, David Zayas in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
Kara Young in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
David Zayas, Katy Sullivan in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Gregg Mozgala
(2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
David Zayas, Katy Sullivan in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
Katy Sullivan in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
David Zayas, Katy Sullivan in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Gregg Mozgala, Kara Young in
Cost of Living (2022-2023)
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
