‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ @ Circle Theatre
Photos by TayStan Photography
—Jan Farrington
It’s officially the Week of the Crumpled Kleenex.
I smiled, laughed, and wept more than a bit during Circle Theatre’s open-hearted, funny, tragic, and ultimately hopeful Tiny Beautiful Things, and followed it with a chaser of the tough and tender family musical Next to Normal at Theatre Three in Dallas—another two-hankie job, if we still carried hankies.
Was it fate or coincidence, I wondered, that dropped this pair of shows into my lap during a week when I was feeling especially, as Texans say, “rode hard and put up wet.” But the truth is, they did help put the world in perspective, shrinking my woes to woe-ettes as I contemplated the stories told by the characters of TBT and N2N.
Tiny Beautiful Things is based on the book by Cheryl Strayed (also the author of Wild) about the letters she got—and the answers she gave—to people who reached out to her online column “Dear Sugar.” Actor and playwright Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Life in Ruins) adapted it for the stage (Marshall Heyman and Thomas Kail co-conceived the production), and it premiered at The Public Theater in 2016.
This is a play that feels extraordinarily in sync with our moment—and director Susan Sargeant helps her small cast (it includes some of my favorite area actors) pick their way through the performance minefields of our general everyday confusion, resentment, loneliness, and an ever-present feeling of (as one character says so often we begin to mouth it with him) “What the fuck?’’
The setting is Cheryl Strayed’s own home (set designer Theresa Furphy gets the young-family vibe just right), cluttered with laundry and leftover dishes. On a whim, she agrees to take over an advice column (in real life, for the online magazine Rumpus), and is suddenly alone-not-alone. Three Letter Writers take the stage, moving around her “office” on the sofa, sitting on the bar stools, leaning against the wall, looking over her shoulder.
They are strangers to her, and to us (“Are you the real Sugar?” they ask), but within minutes we’re leaning in, laughing, and listening hard. They listen to each other too, a delicate but vital addition to the mix onstage—a visual of how we grow by learning from one another. The questions are about sexy Santas, peeping neighbors, jealousy of friends…but quickly grow serious. How do I know it’s love? When can I tell her? I had a miscarriage, and friends think I should be over it. I feel trapped in my marriage but don’t want to hurt her. Strayed’s replies, pulled from her own hard experience, are out of the ordinary but deeply honest—and feel right.
From a random series of questions, we start to see a pathway forming from these separate stories, showing us a road out of sadness and confusion. But it’s a path we must choose—by acting on a small voice in our heads, says Sugar, that simply says, “Go.” Don’t stay here. Reach out. Leave your island. Recognize what you don’t know…yet. Find your tribe.
Circle has assembled a compelling cast. Elizabeth Kensek is warm, funny, and straight-talking as Sugar, who finds she needs to dig deep in her past for ways to help the Letter Writers (and herself). Jovane Caamaño’s warm eyes and gentle voice makes us wonder why the ladies don’t see the love he has to give. Shyama Nithiananda is brave and bold, with a humor that belies her grief for a daughter she’ll never know. And Jakie Cabe’s tragic revelations (carried in his splayed, agonized hands) are Sugar’s greatest test. Can she find a way to help him rise out of his “private hell”? In every case, Sugar’s revelations and insight will surprise you.
Don’t miss this one.
WHEN: June 1-17, 2023
WHERE: Circle Theatre, 230 W. Fourth Street, Fort Worth
WEB: circletheatre.com
