Martyna Majok's IROUNBOUND To Be Presented At Oakland Theater Project
Directed by Emilie Whelan. Ironbound plays at Oakland Theater Project from May 2—18.
Following last season's hit production of Martyna Majok's Cost of Living, OTP will stage Majok's breakthrough 2014 play Ironbound, directed by Emilie Whelan (Cost of Living), featuring OTP Associate Artistic Director Lisa Ramirez.
Ironbound plays at Oakland Theater Project (1501 MLK Jr Way, Oakland, CA) from May 2—18.
In a run-down New Jersey town, Darja, a Polish immigrant, is barely getting by on housecleaning and factory jobs. Over the course of 20 years and three relationships, Darja negotiates for her future with men who can offer her love or security—but never both.
Darkly funny, perceptive and heartbreaking, Majok's drama is an unflinching portrait of an immigrant woman's struggle for survival: a woman for whom love is both a luxury and a liability—and the American Dream is always just out of reach.
The cast includes OTP Associate Artistic Director Lisa Ramirez (Angels in America, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Daniel Duque-Estrada (Cost of Living), Adam KuveNiemann (Exodus to Eden) and Kevin Rebultan (Book of Sand).
“The play is an homage to Majok's mother: an immigrant and single mother who could never square romance and survival,” said Director Emilie Whelan. “The play is raw, disarmingly funny, and doesn't allow its characters to leave the bus stop that suspends them in limbo. Like Cost of Living, the play is also mysteriously sensitive - working on the nervous system like a whispered prayer. Majok's signature modern dialogue that crumbles on top of itself keeps a world simultaneously on its toes and utterly relatable. Ramirez, and the other formidable cast members in this 4-person ensemble, are titans of honesty onstage. Yes, please to more plays where working class everyday heroes dance the acrobatics of the heart.”
“Ironbound is a humorous, touching and profoundly human portrait of the struggle of an immigrant and the struggle of poverty in America,” said OTP Co-Artistic Director Michael Socrates Moran. “It is at once a testament to the human spirit and an indictment of a Bay Area that is still wrestling with how to humanely solve the unhoused epidemic in our region. We are thrilled to have this exceptional cast and exceptional director helm this heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming production. In our season theme of Reckoning, this play is a gentle, heartfelt yet firm reminder that for all of our rightful criticism toward the current administration for their dehumanization of immigrants, we also have our own moral reckoning around how to better serve the unhoused community on our streets. This play sits at the nexus of these issues and, without being didactic or proselytizing, offers a human portrait of the people most affected.”
Single tickets are available for $10—60 at oaklandtheaterproject.org, by calling (510) 646-1126, or by emailing boxoffice@oaklandtheaterproject.org.
Season Subscriptions are available for $50—250 at oaklandtheaterproject.org/2025-season, by calling (510) 646-1126, or by emailing boxoffice@oaklandtheaterproject.org.
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