Exploring Empathy and Healing in Tiny Beautiful Things

Exploring Empathy and Healing in Tiny Beautiful Things

The Sandbox Collective’s production of Tiny Beautiful Things is set to open on November 16, with Iza Calzado taking on the role of advice columnist, Sugar.

Adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos (best known for writing and starring in My Big Fat Greek Wedding), the play is based on Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name. Tiny Beautiful Things follows Strayed’s real-life experience as an anonymous advice columnist, whose radical empathy resonated with readers around the world. It was also recently adapted into a Netflix series starring Katherine Hahn.

Jenny Jamora, who returns to direct for The Sandbox Collective after helming Every Brilliant Thing and its Filipino translation, Bawat Bonggang Bagay, explains that Vardalos selected and curated the letters from the book in collaboration with a group of actors during a three-year workshop process. This process helped uncover how Strayed was inspired to write so openly and vulnerably, later contributing to her personal memoir Wild (adapted into a 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon).

Joining Calzado are Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla, and Ketchup Eusebio as the letter writers, with Brian Sy and Regina De Vera serving as swings/letter writers for certain performances. 

The letters featured in the play come from people of diverse backgrounds and ages, tackling issues such as jealousy, grief, heartbreak, and depression, among many others. 

When asked why this show is relevant to audiences today, Calzado emphasizes the importance of letting people know that they can seek help and work through their trauma and challenges. “Especially at this time, after the pandemic, we’ve experienced so many losses, and patuloy pa rin diba? That’s really life. We need to know that we are not alone in that journey. That we can talk to somebody. There’s that friend that you can talk to and ask advice from.”

 “I think it explores that, after being broken, you are always and will always be worthy of such tiny beautiful things.”

On doing her first straight play (her second stage production after playing the titular role in the dance musical Sabel: Love and Passion), Calzado shares that she said yes after being approached by The Sandbox Collective’s Artistic Director Toff de Venecia because she believed in the material. “I just felt it was so important that people understand that we all go through the same things. Maybe not the same things, but quite similar. And that we will be okay. And I think on a personal level, I’ve struggled with so much, and I’m sure so many people here have. And we’re struggling with something that sometimes we’re not brave enough to admit, even to ourselves or to others.”

When asked what Tiny Beautiful Things means to her, Jamora says, “[It] is getting real with oneself and being able to show your real self to someone else. Sometimes we feel na mahirap to be of comfort to somebody else because we don’t feel worthy, we don’t feel good enough, or we don’t feel wise enough. Pero if you can admit all the imperfections, if we can just be real with each other, I think we can give each other a lot of comfort.” 

She adds, “There are things in my life I consider shameful from a societal point of view. But I think Tiny Beautiful Things is about looking at these things without shame and taking pride in how they’ve allowed you to grow and be a better listener to others going through similar struggles.”

Tiny Beautiful Things will run from November 16 to December 8, 2024 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box Theater, Circuit Makati. Tickets are available at Ticket2Me and through the company’s official show buyers.

You can watch the cast perform clips from different parts of the show, giving a glimpse of what unfolds in the play in the video below.