The Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Cost of Living” is a stirring drama about four characters in the grinding churn of life. It's a play about people who are isolated by disability or poverty and, to some degree, their own attitudes. It’s a play about our dependence on other people, and what that costs us — both financially and emotionally.
“Cost of Living” alternates between two parallel stories. One centers on the relationship between unemployed truckdriver Eddie and his estranged wife Ani, a quadriplegic after her spine was shattered in a car accident. The other story is about John, an affluent graduate student with cerebral palsy, and his care-giver Jess who is a first-generation immigrant.
“Cost of Living” is presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company through March 30. Today on The Culture Show, two of the stars of the show, Stephanie Gould who plays Ani, and Sean Leviashvili, who plays John, joined host Jared Bowen for a discussion of the production.
From there, it's two takes on American history. First, a preview of an immersive experience on the world of Dill, an enslaved woman living in Massachusetts on the cusp of the Revolutionary War. Revolutionary Spaces is hosting a live reading of the screenplay "Dill" tonight at the Old South Meeting House, and producer Nerissa Williams Scott is on The Culture Show to talk about it.
Then, it's a conversation with Historic New England, the country’s largest independent preservation group. It’s expanding with a cultural hub in Haverhill and excavating the past with a slew of revelations about historic figures with extraordinary stories untold until now. President Vin Cipolla explains their latest projects.
