I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the open rehearsal of The Sandbox Collective’s new production ‘Tiny Beautiful Things,’ a play based on the book by Cheryl Strayed and adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos. Directed by Jenny Jamora, the rehearsal was already a powerful, moving experience that brought me to tears and I’m excited to see the actual run at the PowerMac Spotlight Blackbox Theater in Circuit this coming weekend.

The book is composed of a series of advice columns by a woman called Sugar and the play creates a space for the columnist to interact with the people writing the letters and asking for her counsel. As written, these letter writers (performed by three people playing multiple parts) share the same space as Sugar on stage, but not in reality but the furniture and the food and the drinks are all shared by them. Letter after letter, advice after advice, Sugar becomes more emboldened to give of herself – her life story, her darkest deeds and thoughts, the private parts of ourselves we usually keep hidden – and in the process the following letters are equally as exposing creating a whirlwind of emotions. In that space, healing can begin.

Set in the round, the audience circle the stage, which means the actors have nowhere to hide and while the three letter writers do have moments when they can exit the stage when someone else is interacting with Sugar, our protagonist never leaves the stage. She is a constant presence in their lives, and in the duration of the play, she becomes a constant in ours.

Taking the role of Sugar is Iza Calzado, her second foray into theater and she imbues Sugar with a genuine tenderness that can sometimes contrast some of the dark parts of Sugar’s life that she shares with her readers (and the audience). What it creates is a complex character who has seen much, been through hell and back, and is grateful for the opportunity to turn these experiences into nuggets of wisdom that might be able to heal someone else. Calzado makes use of her screen presence and transforms it into a power on stage that keeps the focus on her and permits the sincerity to bridge the gap with her perspective on life, which may not always be like yours, but the insight is something so deep and profound that it touches you.

The three actors during the rehearsal were played by Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla, and Ketchup Eusebio (with Brian Sy and Regina De Vera as alternates) and they have the great task to shift characters after every letter. When not portraying a letter writer, they stay on the stage, either engaging in the conversation Sugar has with one of the senders or taking space at some part of the stage and just doing ordinary things. This direction keeps the stage alive and vibrant, like life is bursting through regardless if the sender’s story is a funny one or a sad one. The three players can shift to any gender or age, but they don’t assume an overdramatic rendition except for some special moments. When one of Ketchup Eusebio’s characters is a little boy, he fully embodies it and transform but when he has to play the part of a transman, it’s not an affected performance. It’s like there’s a baseline for all the characters that they play that they don’t stray too far away from. It feels connected to the fact that none of these people use their real names. All the letters are anonymous, and even when they ask for Sugar’s real name, she doesn’t give it either.

It’s the tiny nuances like this that adds an extra layer of depth into the production. It was an open rehearsal – so the set design approximates what will be on stage at the PowerMac Spotlight Blackbox – and no spotlights or lighting effects were used, but already the play felt so full and powerful. The set is a full-on working home with a coffee machine that makes actual coffee, and I can imagine what that smell would do for that scene in the actual theater. It’s this fullness that pulls you in further as you get swept into the world of Sugar and her letter writers.

And the brilliance of the script, pushed forward by its very capable cast and the clear directions, allows for the play to hit hard at the end and you’ve come to realise that the vulnerability that was slowly growing onstage, from Sugar to the senders of the letters asking for her advice, is the same vulnerability you are experiencing as you are connecting to one of those stories.

The play underscores how vulnerability is an essential part of healing. As someone who is going through therapy now and trying to get over something, this play touched me in a very profound way. And even if you are not going through something, there’s a story there that is going to remind you of someone – or yourself – and you’re going to nod your head and smile. 

My Rating:

Tiny Beautiful Things will run from November 16 to December 8, 2024, at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater in Circuit Makati. The intimate venue is the perfect setting for a play that thrives on human connection and emotional vulnerability. Tickets are available through Ticket2Me.