March 19, 2024 - Cost of Living, Dill, and Historic New England

In the play “Cost of Living,” now onstage in Boston, four characters find themselves isolated from society–cut off by poverty, by physical disabilities and by an armor of defensiveness that makes the cost of living exponentially more exacting. It’s a soul-stirring play that explores the longing for human connection. I’ll be sitting down with two of the show’s stars. From there it’s two takes on American history: First, a preview of an immersive experience that takes us into the world of Dill, an enslaved woman living in Massachusetts on the cusp of the Revolutionary War. Then, we talk to the president of Historic New England, the country’s largest independent preservation group. It’s expanding with a cultural hub in Haverhill and excavating the past with a slew of revelations about historic figures with extraordinary stories untold until now.