Tiny Beautiful Things Is Worth a Watch, Here's Why

(SPOT.ph) The Sandbox Collective— the folks who brought us the 2024 production of the weirdly endearing Little Shop of Horrors— is closing the 2024 theater season with their production of Tiny Beautiful Things: A Play About Life –  In Letters. It features a powerhouse cast with Iza Calzado playing the lead Sugar, alongside multi-awarded theater personality Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla, Ketchup Eusebio, and Gawad Buhay awardees Regina De Vera and Brian Sy as swings.

What is Tiny Beautiful Things all about?

To the uninitiated, Tiny Beautiful Things (TBT) draws its plot from author Cheryl Strayed's time as an anonymous advice columnist named Sugar. Over time, the number of letters the columnist received grew, and they were later compiled into a book called Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Someone Who's Been There. In 2016, Nia Vardalos adapted this book to the stage, and in 2023, it was brought to the streaming platform Hulu as a mini-series starring Agatha All Along star Kathryn Hahn.

Unlike most plays whose subject matter is often based on fictional events, Tiny Beautiful Things is based on actual people with real problems who have reached out to Strayed during her time as Sugar. When Vardalos adapted the play to the stage, she selected a handful of letters. These stories weren't necessarily the most relatable, most dramatic, nor the most heartbreaking, but, rather, they're the stories that best show Sugar or Strayed's journey as a daughter, a woman, mother, wife, and everything in between. 

What to expect from this staging of Tiny Beautiful Things:

For Gawad Buhay awardee and TBT Director Jenny Jamora, the challenge in staging Tiny Beautiful Things revolves around worldbuilding. Much of the play is set within the physical confines of Sugar's apartment—an artistic choice considering Sugar never really knows who the letter writers are. But for Jamora, this was a welcome challenge for both the actors and the production team. 

“The space is physically the same, but toward the end of the play, the way they use it should also reflect the community this group of people has become," says Jamora. Jamora goes on to describe how this physical space will eventually be a reflection of Sugar's journey and how much of herself is shared with her readers. 

Aside from the physical worldbuilding, there's also the matter of fleshing out the context of the letter writers. How exactly do you bring an anonymous character to life? For Padilla, who represents the female advice seekers, this was the fun part about working on Tiny Beautiful Things.

"As letter writers, a lot of the work that we have to do is filling in the gaps of who these people are. As a team, we respect, and we understand that we really have to do justice because it is a real person. And every day in rehearsals, we get to experiment, we get to play, and we really get to explore different ways of getting to know these characters and getting to tell this story," says Padilla. 

In a press conference for the play, Calzado remarks that this play is something she needed and wanted to do. Tiny Beautiful Things marks her first foray into theater, and she goes on to say that working on this has made her learn and re-learn a lot of things about her process as an actor. But for the most part, Calzado's favorite part about TBT is that it is about "catharsis" and "community."

"It's because [the play's] message of getting people to reach [out] and get help, to work on their own trauma or challenges, and to know that they can work through it is so important," says Calzado.

"It's really [about] life. We need to know that we are not alone," Calzado poignantly adds. 

Here's how to get tickets to Tiny Beautiful Things by The Sandbox Collective:

Tiny Beautiful Things will run from November 16 to December 8, 2024 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater, Circuit Makati. Friday shows begin at 8 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday shows run at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are available online at Ticket2Me. Regular seating costs P2,500, and premium seats cost P2,700.

Also read: 
Filipino Artists Want You to Turn Off Your Phone in the Theater

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