Cost of Living

As the play opens, former truck driver Eddie is in a bar talking to an unseen companion. He provides the backstory of the reason he came to the bar and explains that he is now unemployed after being arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. He is serving a community service and drinks only soda, while freely buying his companion drink after drink. Eddie explains that his ex-wife, Ani, recently died, but he has been getting mysterious text messages from her phone. The latest one invited him to meet at this bar. He gave the phone away and the logical side of his brain knows that they cannot possibly be from her, yet he has come to the bar anyway. But no-one is there to meet him.

The scene shifts to John’s New Jersey apartment. He is a wealthy, entitled graduate student with cerebral palsy. He is interviewing a young woman named Jess to become his personal care worker. Jess is a graduate from Princeton and the daughter of an immigrant. She is on the brink of becoming homeless