You are advised to watch Sandbox Collective's ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’
When you’re directing a play about people reading letters, the biggest challenge may be bringing those words to life, so it doesn‘t just sound like words on paper. For director Jenny Jamora, now staging Sandbox Collective’s Tiny Beautiful Things: A Play About Life—In Letters, it’s all about the character of advice columnist Sugar, played by Iza Calzado, in the staging of Cheryl Strayed’s play.
“The biggest challenge is really getting the temperament of every person just right, especially Sugar,” says Jamora, a Gawad Buhay awardee for 33 Variations. “She has to be so sympathetic and very comforting, very nurturing, so that it doesn’t feel like it’s this woman just saying, ‘Hey, do this, do that,’ just preaching at you. It should be very empathetic, so we know that she’s telling us this advice because she’s gone through the same thing. She has a past. She’s lived.”
Sugar is an anonymous advice columnist in the play—as Strayed was in real life, answering people’s urgent pleas for the column “Dear Sugar.” Set in her apartment, scrolling through letters sent in, the letter writers start “invading” Sugar’s apartment, using her kitchen, her furniture, her refrigerator. “They use the space like it’s their own, and she interacts with them. So that it seems like a conversation.”
Calzado and Toff de Venecia, Sandbox Collective’s artistic director, had been planning to work together for years, and Strayed’s series of letters felt right for the stage.
Revolving around Calzado are three other cast members—Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla and Ketchup Eusebio—portraying a revolving door of letter writers, all seeking advice from Sugar. The cast is rounded out by Gawad Buhay awardees Regina De Vera and Brian Sy (swing/letter writers at certain performances).
Making its Philippine premiere, Tiny Beautiful Things will be Sandbox Collective’s season finale, running Nov. 16 to Dec. 8, capping off the company’s 10th-year anniversary season.
At its recent cast rollout, director Jamora said she wanted to create a set that was “at once nebulous and familiar,” while never straying from the physical constraints of Sugar’s apartment. “How much Sugar shares of herself is reflected in how she and the letter writers share the physical space,” says Jamora. “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.”
Although the characters maintain their anonymity by using code names in their letters, their stories reflect the wide human experience—the highs and lows, including eating disorders, kleptomania, rape, grief, dysfunctional families, but also romance and relationship woes—things that strike a responsive chord with the audience.
Along with Jamora directing, the show is joined by the artistic team of Marcel David (assistant director), Kayla Teodoro (set designer), Kiefer Sison (lighting and technical director), Arvy Dimaculangan (sound designer), Krystal Kane (costume stylist) and JV Rabano (photographer).
Leading the production team is De Venecia, alongside Anna Santamaria as finance and operations director, Sab Jose as marketing and PR director, and Maine Manalansan as design director. Joining the production team are Charyl De Guzman as production manager, Pachot Festejo as head stage manager, Loreta Arroyo as marketing and PR manager and Marielle Filoteo as social media manager.
Tiny Beautiful Things is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. Based on the Cheryl Strayed book, it’s adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos, co-conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail and Nia Vardalos.
* * *
Tiny Beautiful Things runs Nov. 16 to Dec. 8 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater, Circuit Makati. Friday shows will begin at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday shows will run at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Ticket2Me (bit.ly/tinybeautifulmnl) or contact [email protected], s[email protected], [email protected] or
+63917 152 5560.
