Cost of Living

How would you describe the play’s structure? Why do you think Majok decided to disrupt the chronological narrative? How do you think the play would function differently if it were told in linear order?

What is the play about? Don’t summarize the narrative; articulate what you think is the purpose of the play. What do you think it’s saying? How does it speak to contemporary audiences?

Cost of Living won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, beating the two runners-up: Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and The Minutes by Tracy Letts. Read one of these two plays and compare and contrast. Why do you think Cost of Living won? Do you agree with the committee’s choice? Why or why not?

How does the play represent disability? Compare and contrast the portrayals of Ani and John. Use evidence from the text to make your point.

Consider the showering scene at the beginning of Scene Five. How does Majok describe the shower? What effect do you think that scene would have on an audience, and why do you think Majok made that choice?

Majok specifies that the two characters with disabilities need to be played by actors with disabilities. Why do you think she deemed that necessary? Do you agree with this stipulation? Why or why not?

Majok does not proscribe the races and ethnicities of the characters, except that the cast is supposed to reflect the diversity of New Jersey. Choose one character and assign a race or ethnicity. Follow that character throughout the text. How does your choice create meaning, resonate with, or contradict the way the character is written?

How does the play use the characters to discuss ideas of privilege and oppression? Which characters have privilege and which characters don’t? How does it work when a character is both privileged and marginalized?

How does the theme of searching for connection function in the play? In what ways are the characters trying to connect with each other, and in what ways are they pushing each other away? Use details from the text to support your response.