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Tiger Style, the first of Mike Lew’s three plays to be staged for his Profile Theatre residency, is a timely commentary on the consequences of being anyone other than a white American. Running through Feb. 8, Tiger Style is consistently sharp across text, tone and tech. Though it tackles tough topics, Tiger Style stays brave enough to do so through its comedy.
Albert (Nick Ong) and Jennifer (Evangeline Billups) were raised by Chinese American “tiger parents” who pushed their kids to reach their full potential, but now they’re having trouble grappling with adulthood. Albert works hard and is good at his job, but he’s passed over for a promotion because he’s not “relatable.” Jennifer is a successful oncologist, but her boyfriend is a loser. The siblings embark on a “freedom tour” that leads them to China, where they confront their own conceptions of themselves.
Tiger Style originally premiered in 2015, but Lew did a pandemic-inspired rewrite, updating it to 2019. He’s made even more changes for Profile’s production, with new pages being incorporated two days before the play’s premiere. The play winks at the future with references to the president, COVID and immigration, eliciting laughs and even groans of recognition from the audience.
The ridiculousness of the characters’ terrible choices is played straight, which increases the comedic payoff for the audience. However, the conflicts within and between the characters and their relationship to China and the U.S.—especially in the play’s final scenes, which take place in a Chinese prison and at LAX customs—are still funny, but chilling. Each sibling has to decide how much it’s worth to be true to themselves.
Tiger Style is a technically difficult play to stage because the characters need to appear in multiple locations, sometimes concurrently, in real time. There are times when two scenes flip back and forth like cuts in a film, like a moment in Albert’s office that’s interspersed with one between Jennifer and her therapist. The next scene takes place in an entirely new location, posing a technical challenge for the production.
Director Peter Kim and the rest of the design team wanted a sense of whimsy in their design choices to mirror the tone of the text. Set designer Alex Meyer handled the multiple locations by designing the set’s back wall as a turntable like a murder mystery mansion, which allows the crew to set the next scene backstage. For the office scenes, a desk flips in and out as if it’s part of a foldable doll’s house. The rapid set changes match the cheeky, fast-paced text, making it so the audience doesn’t have to endure transitions for more than a moment.
The siblings move through the world of the play with an exasperated freneticism alongside three other actors. Heath Hyun Houghton transforms from the kids’ dad to an elderly Chinese man to two of Albert’s supervisors, while Julia Morizawa plays their mom, Jennifer’s therapist, their cousin Chen, and other characters. Murri Lazaroff-Babin plays multiple characters, which necessitate quick changes between Albert’s burnout co-worker to Jennifer’s burnout boyfriend. The zany characters and button-push blackouts paired with high-energy sound cues keep the show moving along at a tight pace and help reinforce a cohesive tone.
The production’s focus on comedy paired with the technical skill of the cast, design team and crew makes Tiger Style a delightful journey, but one that never quite allows the characters to land home. The dissonance between the story’s humor and facts makes it an intriguing production, asking playgoers to consider the questions of the play, but making sure to let them in on the fun.
SEE IT: Tiger Style at Portland Center Stage, 128 NW 11th Ave., 503-242-0080, profiletheatre.org. 7:30 pm Thursday–Saturday, Jan 29–31 and Feb. 5–7; 2 pm Sunday, Feb. 1 and 8. $49.77.
