What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1421135
sometimes funny, sometimes blunt, but always sincere — hit hard, largely because she used sensitive details from her own life to connect with and relate to her letter writers. The death of her mother, her divorce, heroin use, abortion, self-harm, sexual abuse — seemingly, no topic was taboo. Strayed's willingness to expose her vulnerabilities sparked something in those reading the column. She was an instant sensation. "I have always turned to literature, to poems and plays and books and, you know, things that people wrote yesterday or things that people wrote 300 years ago," Strayed said in an interview. "And they console me. They make me feel less alone. They make me feel more human, more part of the human family. And so that's what I try to do as Dear Sugar. I tell those stories because I know that story has power." Strayed's potent words were first collected in a book called "Tiny Beautiful Things," and, in 2016, it was adapted for the stage by actor/ writer/director Nia Vardalos. It's this adaptation that TheatreSquared is staging now through Dec. 5. The timing is impeccable. Many of us might be hankering for something to make us feel "less alone" at this particular moment: 19 months into a global pandemic that most of us predicted would be over by now, our nerves frayed, many of us having lost loved ones, the world seeming wildly unpredictable. "We have been so isolated for the past, almost, two years, and it is so easy to get lost in yourself," says August Forman, who plays Letter Writer 3. Forman is new to the T2 stage, but this is the second time they've performed in "Tiny Beautiful Things," having previously done the show at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago. "We're all dealing with really heavy, heavy things right now. It's easy to just think you're the only one going through that. Sitting in this audience, listening to the stories that these people brought to Sugar, it is such a good reminder that you are not alone." "There's a line of Sugar's — she says she approaches this column with 'radical sincerity'," says Broderick Clavery, who plays Letter Writer 1. Playing Nol in "Shakespeare in Love," he helped baptize T2's new theater in the very first performance in the new space two years ago. "I think the best part about this play and the show and the writing is that it's about community. When you share these letters, and you share these things that you're going through, you're helping others, because then they get to see, 'Oh, there's somebody else.' And then we get to form a community. And then we get to heal." Forman and Clavery are joined by Francisca Muñoz — last seen on T2's stage as Amalia in "American Mariachi" — as Letter Writer 2. The trio is tasked with playing dozens of parts, as they take turns giving voice to the various authors of some of Sugar's most memorable letters. "We've talked among ourselves about how this is an actor's dream," says Muñoz. "To be able to play so many different characters, on one stage, at one time. How many times do you get to do that?" Fan favorite and TheatreSquared veteran Rebecca Harris — who performed in T2's very first production — plays Sugar as she transitions from advice newbie to maven. "When it was adapted [for the stage], I know they went through a lot of iterations," says Harris. "The book is amazing and moving, but it's huge. You could never put the whole book on THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY COME FROM AWAY Book, Music and Lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein Directed by Christopher Ashley BROADWAY IS BACK! IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS Broadway Supporters: Bob & Becky Alexander, Friends of Broadway Broadway Series Sponsor: Media Support: Additional Support provided by Heroncrest at Elmdale Estate OCT. 26-31 • 8 SHOWS THIS WEEK! 6 What's up! OctOber 24-30, 2021 See T2 Page 37 T2 Continued From Page 5 Fayetteville