Review: TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS at Stages Houston
The best kind of group therapy, TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS at Stages Houston
The stage production TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS is based on Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name. From 2010-2012, Strayed wrote anonymously for an online literary magazine under the pseudonym “Sugar,” responding to letters and giving advice to readers who wrote in. While a separate limited series was created, this play was adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos. In this fabulously directed (by Ash Love) production at Stages Houston, three actors portray the different people who write in while Sugar draws from her own lived experience to answer and counsel them.
Dear Letter Writers,
What’s most impressive is not just all that is being said, but how seamlessly you move between who is saying it. Without fixed identities, you each navigate the constant transformation with striking precision, never blurring one voice into another becoming an emotional kaleidoscope of people who are, at their core, all asking the same thing: Do I matter? The discipline required to make those shifts feels clean, immediate, and is no small feat. And it is here this ensemble’s work proves itself most impressive.
Dear woman across the stage from me,
I saw you wiping your eyes during Gabriel Regojo’s letter about losing a son to a drunk driving accident. That response doesn’t happen by accident. Regojo doesn’t overplay the grief, he contains it, letting it sit raw and right on the surface until it inevitably spills over. It’s a controlled, deeply human performance that trusts the material enough not to force it, and that restraint is exactly what makes it compelling.
Dear fellow homosexual sitting next to me,
Thank you for not pulling away when we unconsciously leaned into each other during Ricardo Enrique’s letter about navigating their sexual transition and their family’s journey through it. Enrique’s performance is striking in its clarity, there’s no theatricality for its own sake, just a direct, grounded delivery that allows complexity to land with truth. It’s the kind of captivating work that invites empathy rather than demanding it.
Dear theatre usher on the aisle,
You sat forward in your seat, enthralled during Sarah Sachi’s confession of theft and self-reproach, and I did too, reacting not just to the story, but to the precision of her performance. Throughout the show, Sachi walks the tightrope between drama and humor, never flattening her characters into moral lessons. It’s beautiful and recognizably human.
Dear Sugar,
I do not know how you get through this show every night with such grace. Callina Anderson gives a performance that is both structured, rhythmic and deeply felt, threading everything together without ever becoming static. What’s most impressive is your sense of active listening, so every response feels earned, as though it’s being discovered in real time rather than delivered. Yours is a measured, fully embodied performance that holds the entire production together.
Dear couple diagonally across the theatre from me,
I don’t understand how you nodded off, because what’s happening onstage is anything but passive. This cast creates a constant sense of motion as they shift between topics, perspectives, and emotional registers with precision and heart. Even in stillness, there’s an undercurrent of energy that keeps us engaged. I’m sorry that you missed it.
Dear young lady to my far left,
You clocked the set the same way I did. The distinct areas (carpeted, tiled, parquet) scenic designer Brandi Alexander gives the actors to play within are subtle but effective. More importantly, they know how to use them. I loved that the bench becomes a confessional space, and each actor approaches it differently, revealing character through physicality as much as text. I loved how the dining room table acted as both a place to rest as much as an active area for the action to unfold.
Dear Ash Love,
I’m so glad I got to connect with you after the show to tell you how much it touched me. I don’t often show emotion where everyone can see, but I couldn’t help myself. What you’ve done here is wonderful. The direction never imposes unnecessary structure on a piece that is inherently fluid. Instead, it creates space for performance to lead, allowing each letter to feel distinct while still contributing to the cohesive whole. The story is so well woven together across the board by the rest of the production crew (Krystal Uchem, Christina Giannelli, Yezmine Aepeda and Jodi Bobrovsky) and you can feel the trust throughout.
Dear mental health coordinator Nancy Lynch,
Thank you for what you did here, and what you do in general. Truly.
Dear people living with grief,
This is not an easy evening of theatre. But through the director, and in the hands of this cast, it becomes something more than a series of stories. It becomes an act of shared witnessing. And because of the specificity and honesty of each of these performances, it also becomes a tiny beautiful bit of healing.
TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS runs through Sunday, April 19th on the Rochelle and Max Levit Stage. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:00pm, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:00pm The show is about 80 minutes long with no intermission. More information on the theater and the production can be found here.
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