The New York Times: It started about 10 or 15 minutes into the performance of “Tiny Beautiful Things,” when Nia Vardalos, playing a character named Sugar, began talking about the death of her mother at 45 and how, years later, she still felt the pain of not being in the room when she died.
3 comments:
This play seems really good and extremely emotionally raw. Personally, I really don’t cry at shows. Maybe that is because I feel like I will be judged or I will disrupt other audience members. The point that the article makes about the intimate atmosphere of the audience of the Newman is something that I would never think about. Having that atmosphere for the audience seems like a very important element for this show. It allows the audience to get invested into the show. As actors I bet this really helps because they feed of the energy of the audience and if the audience is allowed to give off strong emotional energy the actors can tap into that and adjust their performance for the better. The articles point that an audience really needs this at this time is very relevant. More and More people are needing theater to make room for discus what is going on in this country.
This article and the play works towards creating a relationship with the audience that is deeper, more personal. It's true, the odds of someone experiencing aspects in their lives that are similar to the scope of this show is growing at a greater rate. Theatre is no longer an over-dramatization, its a reflection of its viewers. I applaud the playwrights for setting a goal in this theatre experience that is often times over-looked or overanalyzed to the point of disbelief in the creative process, how does one make an audience member cry. I find it incredibly important for shows to encompass the audiences reactions. With more and more statistics coming out about the average person and what they experience, its hard to avoid the likelihood of a show triggering someone, touching someone, or going right over someones head. Art and theatre is intended to affect an audience and even if they can touch one person every night, it truly has succeeded.
This article says so much about the state of the world and how we need to heal as a society. I love that this play evokes such strong empathy and emotion. That emotional response indicates the strength of the writing and performance. I love how real and relevant Tiny Beautiful Things is to each person in different ways. I think one of the reason’s it works so well is that it is so relatable and deals with intense everyday pain. I appreciate that the actors are conscious of their effect on the audience, even in a medium size house. I also appreciate how the author connects the play as a an empathetic, healing experience because to me that is one of the most basic purposes of theater: to invoke empathy and make us think about our own lives.
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