TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
by Nia Vardalos & Cheryl Strayed
AUDITIONS | 7pm | LTM (915 S York St • Mechanicsburg PA)
• Feb 8, 2026 (Sun)
• Feb 9, 2026 (Mon)
PERFORMANCES
04/10-04/26, 2026
SUMMARY
Based on the bestselling book by Cheryl Strayed and adapted for the stage by Nia Vardalos, Tiny Beautiful Things personifies the questions and answers that “Sugar” was publishing online from 2010-2012. When the struggling writer was asked to take over the unpaid, anonymous position of advice columnist, Strayed used empathy and her personal experiences to help those seeking guidance for obstacles both large and small.
Tiny Beautiful Things is a play about reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken, and finding the courage to take on the questions that have no answers.
CAST SIZE
1 Woman / 3 Any Gender (Adult)
CAST ATTRIBUTES
Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
SUGAR – Age is 37 and up, no limit. Ethnicity is open. She is a writer, a married mom to two children. On a whim, she takes a job of an anonymous online advice columnist, only to discover that she needs the Letter Writers as much as they need her.
MALE LETTER WRITER #1 – Age, gender and ethnicity are open. This person first appears when he emails Sugar with the offer of the job as an online advice columnist, and later appears as several Letter Writers, including women. Most notably he plays someone who repeatedly trolls Sugar online by signing off as WTF, and a father who has lost his 22 year old son in a car accident.
FEMALE LETTER WRITER – Age, gender and ethnicity are open. This person plays a variety of Letter Writers of many ages, including an assortment of males. Most notably, she plays a woman dealing with the after effects of a miscarriage, plus Sugar’s mother who appears in flashbacks.
MALE LETTER WRITER #2 – Age, gender and ethnicity are open. This person plays a variety of roles, including women. Most notably he plays a transgender person in search of an answer about family, plus someone who is unsure about maintaining a relationship with a narcissist father.
NOTE: The distribution of the letters is open to the director’s choices. The goal was to create a piece which could be played by all genders and ethnicities.
DURATION
75 Minutes
TIME PERIOD
Contemporary
SETTING
The home of "Sugar"
FEATURES
Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
CAUTIONS
Strong Language
A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
• Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy
• Adaptation (Literature)
TARGET AUDIENCE
Adult
AUDITION NOTES
No preparation needed. All auditions will be cold readings from the script and possibly some improved scenarios. Download an Audition Form at www.ltmpa.com/auditions or complete one when you arrive at LTM.
Critic’s Pick! “TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS is about the endangered art of listening to – and really hearing and responding to – other people … it works beautifully as a sustained theatrical exercise in empathy.” – The New York Times
DIRECTED BY
Patrick Hughes
TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS is presented through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals (A Samuel French, Inc. Title).
You may also like the following events from Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg:
Also check out other
Arts events in Mechanicsburg,
Literary Art events in Mechanicsburg,
Performances in Mechanicsburg.
