Blame their parents. Albert and Jennifer Chen are failing at life. Sure, they both graduated top of their class from Harvard. And, yes, Jen went on to get a medical degree and PhD (both from Harvard) before starting her career as an oncologist. Albert took the “lazy Asian” way out, “only” becoming a software programmer. And did I mention their concert together at Carnegie Hall?
But Jen—played by the brilliantly changeable Regina Aquino who transforms from a sobbing mess to bossy know-it-all in a single beat—has been dumped by her lazy, unkempt car-stereo salesman boyfriend (Michael Glenn) disrupting her meticulously scheduled life plan. And Al (a comically anxious Sean Sekino who secretly nurtures a Kung Fu-style bravado) was passed over for promotion in favor of that slacker white boy, “Russ the Bus” (also Glenn, who perfects the “American deadbeat” in multiple roles). The stress of trying to tamp down his rage and be a good “meek Asian” has left him with a bleeding ulcer.
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All fingers point to their “tiger parents,” (Kurt Kwan and Eileen Rivera) who raised Al and Jen on outdated Eastern values: to respect their elders, value education above all else, work twice as hard as their peers and practice grueling self-discipline to achieve perfection. What their parents failed to instill were those all-important Western values: entitlement, self-promotion and swaggering self-confidence.
If they can’t cut it in America, maybe their skills are more suited to the mother country? The siblings embark an “Asian Freedom Tour” to China – where they find out “freedom” is a relative term…and it’s possible their parents were right?
Mike Lew’s biting comedy not only pokes merciless fun at the stereotypes faced by many Asian-Americans, but is, in a broader sense, a coming-of-age story for all young adults struggling to make their way in an “American culture” that is anything but a meritocracy and something short of the shining future they were promised.
Director Natsu Onoda Power packs Olney Theatre’s production with an over-the-top—almost histrionic—energy that only builds as the plot becomes more and more comically absurd. The five-member cast adeptly move through multiple roles: Kwan equally convincing as a doting-but-strict “tiger father” and malevolent Chinese dictator; Rivera as a professionally coiffed, demanding “tiger mom” and long-suffering peasant.
Tiger Style! closes August 18, 2019 at Olney Theatre Center. Details and tickets
Set designer Tony Cisek delivers ingeniously simple staging. Olney’s Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab is transformed into a sporting arena of sorts, the audience flanking both sides of an intimately small stage (every seat affords a great view of the action). Lined with identical glowing paper houses and tiny palm trees the space first evokes an American suburban paradise. In a flash the “houses” lift into the air to become glowing Chinese lanterns. Arch-like structures on either side of the stage (reminiscent of goal posts) suddenly light up with a blaring fluorescence, changing colors to evoke the cacophonous colored lights of a Chinese city, then the grim drear of a prison cell. The stage floor illuminates with bright white “yard lines” tracking Jen and Al’s progress as they struggle to make their way to where they truly “belong.”
Tiger Style! is a tongue-in-cheek satire of not only growing up “other” in America, but the growing pains we all experience in the transition between childhood and “adult life.” Performed at a near-maniacal pace and with a running time of just under two hours, it makes for a “roaring”ly fun evening.
Tiger Style! by Mike Lew. Directed by Natsu Onoda Power. Costumes by Debra Kim Sivigny. Lighting design by Sarah Tundermann. Sound design by Roc Lee. Featuring Regina Aquino, Michael Glenn, Kurt Kwan, Eileen Rivera and Sean Sekino. Produced by Olney Theatre Center . Reviewed by Meaghan Hannan Davant.
