‘QUEENS’: (Left to right) Marin Ireland, Nadine Malouf, Nicole Villamil & Brooke Bloom. Photo: Valerie Terranova.

QUEENS
By Martyna Majok
Directed by Trip Cullman
Through December 7, 2025
Manhattan Theatre Club
NY City Center Stage I
131 West 55th Street
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/

By Scott Harrah

Martyna Majok’s Queens has returned Off-Broadway in a reworked, deeply moving production directed by Trip Cullman. Set in an illegal basement apartment in Queens, the play explores the intersecting lives of immigrant women from across the globe.  These women come from Poland, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and beyond. All the women are struggling to survive in America while reckoning with the past they left behind.

The story

Queens spans from 2001 to 2017 and follows a group of immigrant women from around the world who share the same cramped space while struggling to build new lives in America. When a young Ukrainian woman named Inna (Julia Lester) arrives searching for her estranged mother, she stirs up painful memories and forces the others—particularly Renia (Marin Ireland), the Polish landlord of sorts—to confront the choices and sacrifices they’ve made in pursuit of safety, dignity, and belonging. The women’s stories unfold through shifting timelines and layered interactions, creating a poignant mosaic of survival, identity, and the costs of the American Dream.

Martyna Majok’s unsentimental script examines what it means to build a new life in an unfamiliar place while leaving another one behind. Each character’s story adds texture to the collective immigrant experience, and as the play toggles between 2001 and 2017, the audience witnesses how time, loss, and reinvention shape each woman’s path.

Outstanding ensemble cast

Stage veteran Marin Ireland anchors the production with her remarkable portrayal of Renia, a Polish immigrant whose stoic strength masks deep emotional scars. Ms. Ireland’s mastery of dialects and nuance brings authenticity to every line. Equally compelling is Anna Chlumsky as Agata, whose realism and quiet heartbreak elevate the play’s emotional core. Nadine Malouf gives a particularly poignant performance as Aamani, an Afghan woman whose memories of surviving Taliban oppression and her identity as a woman and a lesbian lend the show moments of haunting despair.

Trip Cullman directs with his usual sensitivity and precision, keeping the pacing tight despite the script’s complex, time-jumping structure. The dialogue occasionally becomes dense and obtuse, especially in scenes where the women speak in thick accents or other languages, making it hard to follow at times. Still, Ms. Majok’s reworked script (originally staged in 2018) is much improved — clearer, more cohesive, and thematically resonant in today’s political climate.

Relevant in modern-day America

For a drama steeped in heavy themes, Queens never drags. Its honesty about immigration, sacrifice, and female resilience feels especially urgent and topical in 2025 America. The result is an affecting, beautifully acted piece of theater that stays with you long after the lights go down.

Published November 6, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on October 30, 2025

‘QUEENS’: Marin Ireland & Anna Chlumsky. Photo: Valerie Terranova.

‘QUEENS’: (Clockwise from top left): The cast; Brooke Bloom & Nadine Malouf; Anna Chulmsky; Julia Lester & Marin Ireland. Photos: Valerie Terranova.

‘QUEENS’: Marin Ireland & Sharlene Cruz. Photo: Valerie Terranova.

‘QUEENS’: (top) Julia Lester; (bottom) Andrea Syglowski. Photos: Valerie Terranova.

‘QUEENS’: Nicole Villamil & Marin Ireland. Photo: Valerie Terranova.

‘QUEENS’: Nadine Malouf, Nicole Villamil, Marin Ireland & Brooke Bloom. Photo: Valerie Terranova.

The post ‘Queens’: Immigrant women, enduring dreams appeared first on StageZine.

‘COST OF LIVING’: David Zayas & Katy Sullivan. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

COST OF LIVING
Written by Martyna Majok
Directed by Jo Bonney
Through October 30, 2022
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By David NouNou

Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for drama, Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living is a poignant and touching play that is so ethereal in nature but wallops a heartbreaking punch to the guts. Everything seems and feels real. Everyone has the need to have someone in their life that with whom they can interact and communicate.

Cost of Living examines the relationship of two couples, where in each case one is disabled and the other is able. Eddie (David Zayas) is an unemployed truck driver whose ex-wife, Ani (Katy Sullivan) became a quadriplegic following a tragic accident. John (Gregg Mozgala) is a graduate student with cerebral palsy and has hired Jess (Kara Young) as his caregiver.

The scenes take place at different times. Eddie is in a bar on a Friday night recalling the texts his wife used to send him. In a different scene, Jess is being interviewed by John and needs the job of caregiver desperately. Both Eddie and Jess are extremely lonely, and both have a need to fill their lives. They both need a reason to survive another day. Extraordinary events take place, some real, some by invention of the mind. Their experiences are extremely real and palpable to each which brings them to an intersection to the truth and to connect.

What’s extraordinary for the audience is twofold. The play begs us to ask the question, “What is the cost of living, especially when you can’t put a price on it?” They must connect the dots to reality as well as experience the palpable and heart-wrenching performances given by the four cast members: Gregg Mozgala, Katy Sullivan, Kara Young, and David Zayas. They are further abetted by the excellent and seamless direction provided by Jo Bonney.

There is a haunting quality to Cost of Living that lingers long after leaving the show, and that is the true gift of a night well spent in the theater.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 7, 2022
Reviewed at October 6, 2022 press performance.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala & Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Katy Sullivan. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Katy Sullivan & David Zayas. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala & Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

The post ‘Cost of Living’: Tale of lost souls connecting appeared first on StageZine.