Martyna Majok

Martyna Majok (; born 1985) is a Polish-born American playwright who received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play "Cost of Living". Born in Poland, she emigrated to the United States at the age of five and grew up in New Jersey. Majok studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and Juilliard School. She has received numerous fellowships, commissions, and awards. Her plays have been performed on many stages throughout the US, and can be identified by deep social involvement.
Her breakthrough came with the play "Ironbound" (2014). As her work gained wider acclaim and recognition, Majok, who has diverse writing style, debuted "Cost of Living" (2016), "Queens" (2018), and "Sanctuary City" (2020). In April 2021, it was announced that she will adapt "The Great Gatsby" for the Broadway stage, and co-write with Florence Welch lyrics for songs.
Early life.
Majok was born in Bytom, Upper Silesia and emigrated to the United States with her mother at age 5. She was raised mostly in Kearny, New Jersey, and has half-sister born in Newark. It was a working-class, multicultural immigrant neighborhood. She recalls: "My mother began learning English when she came over. Everybody was working similar jobs. They had factory jobs together; they were cleaning houses, and taking care of the elderly." She went to public school, where she won playwriting contest for students from New Jersey as the only winner not from private school that year. It was her first foray into drama. In high school, Majok wrote skits for an English learning programme for immigrant parents and children; her ideas started to get quite dramatic. At age 17, she got inspired by Sam Mendes' production of "Cabaret" at Studio 54, her first time in the theater, where she went with $45 she had won hustling pool.
Education.
She attended the University of Chicago (BA English Literature, 2007), where she went to drama classes and took part in theatrical performances. Majok realized that she prefers to write for the theater than act, she got tired of roles she could not identify with. To support herself, she worked as a waitress but soon received Merage Fellowship for the American Dream. After graduation, she worked also as an assistant to Steppenwolf Theatre's dramaturg. Majok then graduated from the Yale School of Drama (MFA Playwriting, 2012) and the Juilliard School (GrDip Playwriting, 2017), all on scholarships. She was a 2012–13 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015–16 Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellow at The Lark, and a 2018–19 Hodder Fellow at the Princeton University.
Career, style and themes.
Majok is known for exploring underrepresented communities in her writing. She often gives voices to immigrants or displaced people, women with appetites and drives, the working class, and persons with disabilities; she does not stray from autobiographical themes. Her work touches on class, yearning, loneliness and the journey towards connection with other human beings in America. While subject matter can be tough, humor is important for her and Majok's characters are brimming with life and complications. Reviewing her "Queens" (2018) LA critic wrote: "Majok specializes in anti-sentimentality." Also, a location feels like another character to her. She has diverse writing style and often switches up styles. However, theatre is a place to seek the truth for Majok. She does not invent worlds but creates them from observed images, she considers clarity in drama and ability to transport those images to the stage as her successes. Critics often call her plays a "knockout". 
Talking about her working method, she emphasized: "Workshops, whether in the 'traditional' playwright-of-a-play method or in a room with artists and no script, are my favorite part of making theatre." Discussing her inspirations, Majok pointed out her mother, and also said:
Her breakthrough play, "Ironbound" (2014), depicts American Dream and fight for a place in the world through the eyes of a hard-working, barely-getting-by immigrant woman, living in the industrial wastelands of New Jersey. It is based on some of the experiences of the author's mother. The play was featured in top-ten of the 2014 "Kilroys' List", among other accolades. "Ironbound" opened Off-Broadway in 2016 at the WP Theatre/Rattlestick. 
"Cost of Living" (2016), the winner of 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, explores the interactions of abled and disabled individuals. Majok takes a broader look at financially precarious characters and the delicate emotional balance of need and care. It played Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at City Center in June and July 2017. Jesse Green of "The New York Times" wrote: "in that play, two characters chafe against the way that a wheelchair, like color or language, can be a marker of disfavored status within the larger, normative society.", and also, "it would be a mistake to see "Cost of Living" as an identity play about people with disabilities. Rather, it’s a play about disabilities with people. In both of its stories, which eventually collide, the biggest handicaps are the universal ones: fear and disconnection." This piece won also Outstanding Play at the Lucille Lortel Awards, got nomination for Outer Critics Circle Award's Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, and was featured in top-ten of the 2016 "Kilroys' List", among others.
"Cost of Living" has been produced around the world including in New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto, Poland, Israel, and Cyprus.
In 2018, "Queens" ("queens") premiered Off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center's LCT3/Claire Tow Theater. The play encompasses 16 years during which documented and undocumented women of two generations and different origin live together, in a basement apartment in Queens, New York, trying to support each other in their struggle with everyday life. The choices they have made come back to confront them. Majok examines, as her strong characters try to move life forward standing firmly on their feet, what cannot and what should not be left behind. The play script was included in the 2016 "Kilroys' List". "Queens" is being developed into an original series for HBO; Majok is penning the adaptation and is set to executive produce.
In "Sanctuary City" (2020), she looks at a pair of teenage immigrants, one recently naturalized and the other undocumented, who hatch a plan to keep the latter in the U.S. The action takes place in northern New Jersey during the early 2000s when the DREAM Act was proposed and young immigrants hoped it might be a resolution to their uncertain status. "DREAMers, friends, and lovers negotiate the promise of safety and the weight of responsibility in America." Majok's story asks what we’re willing to sacrifice for someone we love, she said: “some of the things I'm exploring are the extent to which we help when we can, how much we are willing to care for and sacrifice for another person, and the cost of that, for both sides, particularly when coming from a world of limited means and guarantees.” "Sanctuary City", produced by New York Theatre Workshop, had a world premiere Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in March 2020, but was suspended after a few days due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Majok's works has been presented and developed with many other theater companies, including La Jolla Playhouse, Round House, Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Fountain Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, and National Theatre in Warsaw.
Among her other accolades and fellowships, she received the 2050 Fellowship from the New York Theatre Workshop, and a Puffin Foundation grant. She is alumna of 2014–16 WP Theater Lab, Ensemble Studio Theater's Youngblood, and Ars Nova’s Uncharted programs.
She has taught playwriting at Williams College, Wesleyan University, and SUNY Purchase College; in education projects such as Primary Stages ESPA, and NJ Rep; and as an assistant to Paula Vogel at Yale. Publications: Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, TCG, Playscripts, and Smith & Kraus.
Other work.
In April 2021, it was announced that Martyna Majok is set to adapt "The Great Gatsby" for the Broadway stage. She and Florence Welch will write lyrics for songs composed by Welch and Doveman. Rebecca Frecknall, with whom Majok worked on "Sanctuary City", will direct.
"Martyna and Rebecca are two of the most exciting theatre artists of their generation and, together, this extraordinary team brings a thrilling new perspective to one of the most culturally significant books of all time," producers said.
Plays.
Full-length plays.
2014: "Ironbound".
"Ironbound" is the story of a Polish immigrant, Darja, living in New Jersey working as a house cleaner and factory worker, as Majok's mother used to do. It examines the American Dream from Darja's eyes throughout 22 years. When asked how much Darja is like her mom Majok said: "A lot of the circumstances are hers, but the personality is more mine".
The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in July 2014, and then was shown at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland in the fall of 2015 as part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival. It went on to an Off-Broadway run at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in a co-production with Women’s Project Theater. "Ironbound" started previews March 3, 2016, opened March 16, and closed April 24. It featured direction by Daniella Topol, sets and lighting by Justin Townsend, costumes by Kaye Voyce, and sound by Jane Shaw. The cast included Marin Ireland as Darja, Shiloh Fernandez as Vic, Josiah Bania as Maks, and Morgan Spector as Tommy. The drama was also staged at the Geffen Playhouse, and National Theatre of Warsaw, amongst other theatres in America and abroad.
Nelson Pressley of "The Washington Post" called "Ironbound" a "knockout" and stated: "you seldom see plays that are both harsh and wonderful." BroadwayWorld's Jennifer Perry emphasized: "Majok proves exceptional at writing (a) richly-drawn character(s).", and it was "The New York Times" critic's pick. In 2013, the play script won the Smith Prize for Political Theater, a joint commission/award supported and administered by the National New Play Network, and it has also won the Aurora Theatre's Global Age Project Prize, the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, and the Charles McArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play or Musical at the 2016 Helen Hayes Awards.
2016: "Cost of Living".
"Cost of Living", for which Martyna Majok won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2016, and then transferred Off-Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at City Center in June and July 2017. The drama includes Eddie and Ani – an ex-truck driver and his wife who is quadriplegic, John – a witty doctoral student with cerebral palsy, and Jess – his over-worked caregiver. "Cost of Living" began its life as a one-act called "John, who’s here from Cambridge", which premiered in 2015; the play was expanded and renamed.
"Cost of Living" received its West Coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre in November 2018, British premiere in January and Polish premiere in March 2019.
The play won Outstanding New Play at the 2018 Lucille Lortel Awards (tied with Jocelyn Bioh's "School Girls: Or, The African Mean Girls Play"), Edgerton New Play Prize, The Kennedy Center's Jean Kennedy Smith Award, and the Women's Invitational Prize, among others. It was nominated for the 2018 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Both performances were directed by Jo Bonney, who was nominated for Outstanding Director of a Play at the Outer Critics Circle Awards. They also both featured actors with disabilities – Katy Sullivan as Ani, who was nominated for a Lucille Lortel award and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance, and Gregg Mozgala who portrayed John. Mozgala was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award and won a Lucille Lortel award for his performance.
2018: "Queens".
On 5 March 2018, Majok's production of "Queens" (stylized "queens") premiered Off-Broadway at the Lincoln Center's LCT3/Claire Tow Theater. The story centers around a group of immigrant women which come from different countries and live in an illegal basement apartment in Queens, New York. It featured direction by Dayna Taymor, scenic design by Laura Jellinek, costumes by Kaye Voyce, lighting by Matt Frey, and sound by Stowe Nelson. It closed on March 25, 2018. The cast included Jessica Love, Nadine Malouf, Ana Reeder, Andrea Syglowski, Zuzanna Szadkowski, Sarah Tolan-Mee, and Nicole Villamil. Before its premiere, the play spent two summers in development workshops. The first summer (2016), it was the WildWind Performance Lab of Texas Tech University School of Theatre and Dance, and the next summer, these were The Ground Floor at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference.
This time Jesse Green of "The New York Times" called Majok's play a "knockout". "Queens" received West Coast premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in July 2018, in a new two-act version. The play is being developed into a series for HBO. 
2020: "Sanctuary City".
"Sanctuary City", a play produced by New York Theatre Workshop "that blends the personal and political in its depiction of a newly naturalized teenager who decides to marry her undocumented best friend so he can remain in the country", had a short Off-Broadway engagement in 2020. Previews started on 4 March at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and it was set to open on 24 March, but the run was suspended due to the city-wide shutdown amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The production was directed by Rebecca Frecknall and designed by Tom Scutt, Mikaal Sulaiman, and Isabella Byrd. The cast consisted of Jasai Chase-Owens, Sharlene Cruz, and Austin Smith.
The project received an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and was supported by a Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Theater Development Grant and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
One-act plays and shorts.
2015: "John, who's here from Cambridge".
This one-act play premiered Off-Broadway on 28 May 2015 at the Ensemble Studio Theater's 35th 'Marathon of New One-Act Plays: Series B', directed by Nick Leavens. It closed on 20 June. Majok later developed the script into the full-length Pulitzer-winning play "Cost of Living".
Awards and honors.
Majok's awards include:
Awards
Nominations
Other awards
Fellowships, commissions, and residencies