Cost of Living Review

For this paper, you need to read the play Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok. You can find this play through the school bookstore, or purchase the Kindle edition (or other e-reader), or you can access the play on Scribd.com

Chapter Four of your book (Appreciation of Theatre) describes how actors think about character motivations in order to develop a stage performance. For this paper, I want you to apply that to the four characters in Cost of Living. For each character, I want you to answer these questions:

–What is this character’s background? (Think: class, race, gender, education level, etc.)

–What is this character’s relationship with the other character[s] they interact with in this play?

–What does this character want from the other character[s] they interact with in the play?

–How does this character behave in order to get what they want from other characters?

You should organize your response as a paper of at least 1000 words. Your paper should include an introduction paragraph with a thesis statement. You should not use any materials outside of the play and the theatre textbook.

You may organize your paper however you think will be most effective, but I suggest one of the two following outlines: a.) An introduction followed by a paragraph each for the four main characters, or b.) an introduction followed by a paragraph each for the “pairs” of characters that appear in scenes together.

This paper is due Friday, October 9.

Helpful Hints

–Do NOT summarize the play. You will lose points if you include an extended summary of the play.

–Any written source you use other than the textbook must be cited, although you are not expected to consult any outside source.

–Your papers will be scanned by SafeAssign, so make sure that any material you use that is not your own is contained in quotation marks (if directly quoted) and properly cited.

–Your paper must be in .doc or .pdf format. Pages documents will not be accepted.