The Workshop was one of my first artistic homes in New York.  I was a 2050 Artistic Fellow in 2014 and for my first presentation, I shared the first few scenes of what would ultimately become Cost of Living. I had these characters in different short plays that I realized were speaking to each other – and I wondered if they might actually live in one world. But I didn’t know what it would all lead to. I worried nobody would care what I hoped to say. I thought that nobody would want to do Cost of Living.

NYTW gifted me with the resources to work with actors, dramaturgs, and directors and encouraged me to pursue the story. What was wonderful about the Workshop and that fellowship was the way they encouraged me to follow my wonder – to explore, to be messy, to not know – without the pressure to produce a perfect product by the end of my time in the room. They welcomed the play to come to life on its own terms and timing.

Not all stories arrive via the same process or gestation period or just because someone wants it now. Some stories may in fact be hurt by that demand. They may be abandoned, never born, or take a wrong turn because it’s alluring to have an answer, even the wrong one. I felt the Workshop’s care for artists and our work in that way. Their invitation to explore and take time was genuine. I think I needed the safety and freedom to not know a lot of things about it at the time, which ultimately helped me find the play.

I’m very grateful to NYTW for that. Thanks for believing in me.

- Martyna Majok, Playwright (NYTW: Usual Suspect, Playwright of Sanctuary City, Former 2050 Artistic Fellow)