I LOVE the theatre. I might not have the means to see every single show running in my city at a given time, but when I do get my chance, I always have a great time.
This weekend, I’m looking forward to discovering a play for the first time! It’s a straight play called Tiny Beautiful Things, which is a stage adaptation of the book with the same title, penned by American author Cheryl Strayed. In Tiny Beautiful Things, an anonymous advice columnist named Sugar encounters a colorful variety of personalities as they talk about their struggles and seek her advice through the letters they send her.
The local staging of Tiny Beautiful Things is brought to us by The Sandbox Co., and stars Iza Calzado as the advice columnist, Sugar. She is joined by Rody Vera, Gabby Padilla, and Ketchup Eusebio as the letter writers. Rounding out the cast are Brian Sy and Regina de Vera who also play letter writers at certain performances.
Earlier today, I had the honor of having a virtual interview with Mr. Rody Vera, who plays Letter Writer 1. I may have spent several seconds fangirling because he wrote PETA’s Walang Aray, which I absolutely LOVED, but we of course talked more about his role in Tiny Beautiful Things, his thoughts about how the Filipino audience will be able to relate to the material, and This experience working on the production.
Check it out below.
Tara: Familiar po ako sa work niyo as a playwright and a screenwriter, but I think this is the first time I’ll be able to watch you as a performer. Ano po yung proseso ng pag-cast sa inyo sa Tiny Beautiful Things, and what made you decide on getting involved in this production as a cast member?
Rody: Madalang lang akong mag-perform sa stage — kita mo wala nga akong boses ngayon, may palabas pa kami mamaya — pero mas madalas akong nagpeperform sa labas. Ibig sabihin sa Singapore, sa Japan noon. Sa Singapore and Japan hindi nila ako kilala bilang playwright. I do perform musicals. Naging Rak of Aegis member din ako, so this one isn’t really new.
Kinausap lang ako ni Jenny (Jamora), she offered me the role. I don’t know what her reasons were, pero before the pandemic nung meron pang Red Turnip, they already offered me a role, but I wasn’t really available at the time. So I guess she kept that in mind na, “Okay, maybe next time we can invite Rody.” That’s just me thinking baka yun yung iniisip ni Jenny. But yeah she invited me, and I read the script, and nagustuhan ko naman so I said sige.
T: Can you tell me more about the role you’re portraying in the play?
R: I’m playing the role of Letter Writer 1. There are three letter writer characters in the play, we take on different characters depende sa letter na binabasa ni Sugar. (There’s) an online advice column and different letters ang binabasa ni Sugar. Kami yung nagsusulat kay Sugar. Humihingi ng payo, nagbibigay ng comments, etc.
We actually have a lot of characters we need to do in a very short span of time. Minsan it’s just a few seconds to a longer letter that lasts for one whole scene. Nagsasalit-salitan kami ni Gabby (Padilla) and Ketchup (Eusebio), and also alternating with Brian Sy and Regina de Vera.
T: I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve seen snippets of the show that Sandbox posts on their socials and interesting for me yung setup in a blackbox theatre and nakapalibot yung audiences sa stage. Have you ever tried that before or is this the first time you’ve performed in that kind of set up?
R: You mean in the round?
T: Yes.
R: Parang hindi pa. Parang ngayon pa lang. Usually proscenium, arena.
T: How did you find working in that kind of set up? Was it challenging?
R: At first we were not aware — I mean, we know it was going to be in the round, but we were not aware of it during the rehearsal. Habang nagre-hearse kami, dahan-dahang nare-realize namin na we were favoring one side. In the course of the rehearsals, we had to adjust to that. We had to find ways to adjust the blocking so that we won’t favor one side lang palagi.
We first focused on what the play was trying to say and what the characters were, and then susunod yung paano natin ide-democratize (yung blocking), parang ganun. Jenny was watching rehearsals from all different sides para malaman nya kung may nadedehado na audience.

T: Given that the book was written by an American author, how do you think the Filipino audiences can relate to this material, the letter writers and the issues that the play tackles?
R: Number 1 para sa akin yung advice columns, hindi na tayo alien sa mga ganyan. Panahon pa ni Tiya Dely, kapanahunan ko — ang luma! Kuya Cesar, Maalaala Mo Kaya? etc. Yun pa lang, aware na tayo roon and we can relate very well with that.
Yung mga problemang nilalabas takes a lot of courage I imagine from the letter writers themselves. Kasi alam nilang bagama’t hindi naman alam yung totoong pangalan ng taong sumulat, they’re baring themselves online.
I guess yun yung magandang makita, anu-ano yung mga klase ng problema na lumalabas, and ma-realize na — well, while we were rehearsing, we realized na we can relate very well to each of these stories. Nag-iba lang yung setting, American lang sila. English lang yung (language na gamit). But we can relate very well.
Minsan kasi yung characters namin walang kinikilalang gender. Minsan, one character that I play is a 35-year old woman. I guess as actors we are compelled to find how that particular situation resonates with us as a human being. And I guess that’s what the audience will get.
Wala naman akong naririnig na “Bakit ang character nya babae, e lalaki siya.” Wala akong naririnig na ganun eh. They listen to the words, they listen to the situation, and they connect with it. I think yun yung maganda sa Tiny Beautiful Things.
Part of the lines na sinabi ni Sugar — kasi hindi siya nagsasabi kung sino siya — “you’re not seeing me through the eyes of someone looking at gender, ethnicity, etc.” wala yon. Ang mas importante, ano yung sinasabi. Mas nagiging pure yung pagtingin mo sa situation, and then you realize it’s very relatable.
I’m not saying you’ll be able to relate to all the problems but I’m 99% sure that you will relate to at least one. And you will see na lahat yun connected, maski yung iba’t ibang situations.
T: While we’re talking about relatability. Is there one persona you’re playing that you related to the most?
R: Hands-down when I first read the play, when I read that particular part, that was the reason I said yes. Kasi sobrang lakas ng dating. “Obliterated Place” ang pangalan nung eksena. Very emotional. The story was very clear but very succinct, and the way it was written, malaki ang impact. Kahit na hindi ako maka-relate, kasi tungkol sa isang ama eh. Hindi naman ako ama. I think that’s one thing that I could never forget.
T: Would you say that’s your favorite part that you played in the production?
R: I wouldn’t say favorite. It’s emotionally taxing, you have to prepare for it. Sometimes you don’t get it and so you get frustrated. Pero yeah, it’s the most emotionally demanding as an actor. Kasi you can either not feel it at the moment, you can get carried away and go overboard which is not a good thing as well. And you don’t have much time to prepare because most of the time we’re on stage, we’re not leaving.
T: Was there anything new that you discovered about yourself while doing Tiny Beautiful Things?
R: Matagal ko nang hindi nagagawa yung mag-connect with people, hindi naman intimate, but closer connection with my co-actors. I loved the rehearsal process because we didn’t attack the play the way you would attack probably Shakespeare? Or classic plays. We started with ourselves.
We became honest with ourselves and others. Basta it was a safe space. It was the whole environment, the process of discovery nung actors nagbabago.
Sometimes iniisip ko, this could be frustrating kasi binabago namin yung attack, binabago namin yung pang-unawa, etc. Pero after a while you get the hang of it and you realize you learn a lot, so many new things, even with doing the same thing over and over. And at the same time you connect with your co-actors, not just as co-actors, but also as friends, I guess. I will always remember that. Minsan lang mangyari yun eh, kasi kung masyadong malaki ang musical, alangan naman, diba.

T: Do you have a fond memory of rehearsals that you can share?
R: Wala namang very very specific, kapag lang may umiiyak for the first time. Hindi mo mapigilan eh. Tsaka hindi mo alam, teka, are you still talking as a character or are you already talking as yourself? Yun yung pinaka-ano sa akin, wow. It felt like you were baring parts of yourself as well.
T: Yung material po ba, while you were rehearsing and while the staging is going on, is there room for adlibs?
R: No. We play around with the script, with the way we are saying our lines, attacking our roles. Comedy ba ‘to? Are we being sarcastic here? Yun pwede naming paglaruan yun. Timpla-timpla. But we never change the lines.
In fact, at some parts during the rehearsals nababago ang mga lines. Alam mo naman ang mga actors, they say their lines according to how they understood it. So minsan, in place of memorizing it, napapalitan mo ng mga salita na akala mo same meaning din naman. Jenny would say, “Go back to the script,” because even if (you use) synonyms or (words with) similar meanings, iba pa rin yung impact ng original wording. We enjoy doing that. Playing around with it, but at the same time staying true to the text.
T: If you could be an advice columnist like Sugar, what kind advice do you think you’d specialize in?
R: Ay, bopol ako sa advice. I would always be choosing the most immoral option. That’s why I don’t give advice, even to friends. I just listen. Kasi even if you give advice, alam mo naman na hindi naman sila susunod eh. Susundin pa rin naman nila kung ano yung nararamdaman nila, diba?
And sometimes when I give advice it’s like hindi importante sa akin yung advice, ang importante yung pinakinggan ko sila. Most of the time when I’m in that kind of situation that’s the best you can do. To let them know that somebody cares, cares enough to listen.
Kasi I really don’t know what to say na “Dapat ganito ang gawin mo.” Hindi ko kayang maging ganun ka-responsible.
T: Lastly, what’s a tiny beautiful thing that happened to you this week that you would like to share?
R: Oh, wow. A tiny beautiful thing? Nanood ako ng Wicked!
Thank you very much to Mr. Rody Vera for taking the time to chat with me about Tiny Beautiful Things, and thank you as well to The Sandbox Co. for helping organize this interview. I’m super excited to see the show on Sunday!
Tiny Beautiful Things runs from Friday to Sunday at the Powermac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater in Circuit Makati until December 8 only. Visit thesandboxco.com or go to ticket2me.net for tickets. You may also check out and follow The Sandbox Co’s Instagram account for more details about show and cast schedules.