Sweet, profane, insightful, down-to-earth, undaunted. That’s one description of Sugar, an Internet advice columnist and the main character in Tiny Beautiful Things, a two-act play based on the best-selling book of the same name by Cheryl Strayed.
Kristen Saunders makes the role hers in the Wine Country Theatre production playing in Paso Robles through April 13. She is helped along by a skillful trio who each play a multitude of letter writers seeking Sugar out for advice (and sometimes just to be nosy).
Director Cynthia Anthony has infused this production with compassion and integrity, with a forthrightness that is refreshing and deeply human.”
Tracy Mayfield, Kata Linfield, and Edgar de la Cruz all bring their A games to the show, wholly committed and with genuine feeling for each of the letter writers. They give us in turn hopeful, outraged, anguished, confused, and sometimes just plain curious as they pose their questions for Sugar, even as they “inhabit” Sugar’s onstage living room and kitchen where she composes her always interesting, often unexpected, answers.
As they follow her around, helping her fold laundry, wash dishes, make coffee and such, they listen to Sugar delve into the heart of their questions, and react with her self-described “radical sincerity.” Her succinct advice (“Ask better questions,” “‘No’ is golden,” “Go find yourself another girlfriend”) is often as funny as it is profound.
Director Cynthia Anthony has infused this production of Tiny Beautiful Things with compassion and integrity, with a forthrightness that is refreshing and deeply human. It is, like Sugar, sweet, profane, insightful, down-to-earth, and ultimately undaunted.