Review: COST OF LIVING at Oakland Theater Project

The Bar Area premier of Martyna Majok’s COST OF LIVING has landed at Oakland Theater Project. With few frills and the focus on dialogue, COST OF LIVING pulls you in and never loosens its grip. In the midst of telling a story of a marginalized community, Oakland Theater Project reminds us of the universality of human nature, connection, rejection, and love. 

COST OF LIVING tells two parallel stories in alternating scenes. Both stories follow a person with disabilities and demonstrate how economic status effects the lives of the disabled. One story follows John, a young, handsome graduate student who happens to have Cerebral Palsy. He is interviewing a personal care attendant to come help him every morning with shaving, showering, and dressing. He meets Jess who is a bit of an enigma, an ivy league graduate working in bars and seeking more part-time work. When Jess begins her daily shifts with John, they must work through the awkwardness of sharing such intimate space and activities. Soon they develop a rapport and sense of ease. However his disability and her social standing are both potential barriers for growing closer. The second storyline follows Ani, a young married woman who suddenly finds herself a member of the disabled community due to a terrible accident that left her paralyzed. Ani’s estranged husband Eddie, a long haul truck driver, has demons of his own and now must face an uncertain future with Ani. The vulnerability and intimacy required to care for someone with severe disabilities have the power to hold them together or permanently drive them apart.

The cast of COST OF LIVING have found the magical groove where they live in the moment and give themselves over completely to the material. Matty Placencia as John presents an air of regalness coupled with the condescension that is often found in academia. He balances the guarded aspect of John’s demeanor with glimpses of the fears and insecurities that lay beneath. Carla Gallardo as Jess is everything. Multiple times, her mouth would open, pause, then close. Without ever saying a word, we got the message that she didn’t have the time or energy to explain herself. Gallardo makes sure that Jess is not comic relief, despite providing some of the best laughs, but provides the character with a deep undercurrent. Daniel Duque-Estrada as Eddie is a big presence. He gives Eddie that indescribable touch that makes him lovable even in his many mistakes. He allows you to see how intentions aren’t enough, and also the importance of second chances. Christine Bruno as Ani is the soul of the show who finds a way to show complex emotions in a single sigh or the slow close of her eyes. Her smirk and bawdy laugh remind us that Ani is not defined by her disability. Together, the cast weaves the dialogue and simple daily moments into a beautiful tapestry of storytelling.

Emilie Whelan as Director guidesthe show into a well honed machine that purred even in preview nights. The scenes thread that needle of tight pacing with moments of breath that give the show a sense of heartbeat and life. The various sightlines of the thrust stage provide a varied audience experience but one that Whelan, also Set Designer, has crafted to work from all angles. Whelan’s collaboration with Intimacy Choreographer Bessie Zolno results in a close up look inside of life with a disability without proffering anything for shock value. Kevin Myrick’s lighting design not only assisted with transitions, but also helped denote the passage of time and seasons and provided safe passage for actors’ entrances and exits.

The show simply works. It resonates. It matters. If this show had been on screen rather than stage, you would be hoping for a sequel. The characters are so well developed that you are not ready to leave them and want to know what happens next. It would be easy to write off COST OF LIVING as another show about a marginalized community, but it is so much more than that. The show reminds us all of our own humanity, vulnerabilities, failings, and search for connection. As John would say, “my disability is the least interesting thing about me.” 

COST OF LIVING is playing at Oakland Theater Project now through March 24th.

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