Huntington and GBH Announce Audio Play TIGER STYLE

The Huntington Theatre Company in partnership with GBH presents the audio version of the comedy Tiger Style! by Mike Lew and directed by Tony Award nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God on Broadway).

GBH will broadcast the audio play on the radio on Saturday, February 6 from 6pm to 8pm on 89.7 FM and stream it on wgbh.org and the GBH News app. The Huntington will also launch the audio production as a podcast in 4 weekly installments, starting Thursday, February 4, along with a companion podcast series "Exploring Tiger Style!" - a bonus content series of insightful conversations with actors, artists, and community members, curated by the Huntington education and artistic departments.

The Huntington previously produced Tiger Style! on stage at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA in 2016 to great acclaim. The Boston Globe called it "a sharply observed comedy," and GBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen said it was "uproariously funny."

"Mike Lew has brilliantly adapted his hit play Tiger Style! for audio, and this production helmed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel highlights all of the play's wit, insight, and imagination," says the Huntington's Director of New Work Charles Haugland. "This smart comedy was an audience favorite on our stages in 2016, and now we can't wait to share this play with new audiences both on GBH and as a podcast. Mike's play explores a tension that feels universal to the children and grandchildren of immigrants - what would it mean to break free from racist preconceptions and projections? What does it mean to feel a sense of belonging in America? The way that Tiger Style! echoes these questions will have everyone laughing out loud."

"In the midst of the pandemic, it is exceedingly challenging to build community and connect with each other in the ways we want to most," said Pam Johnston, General Manager for News at GBH. "Our hope is that the Tiger Style! radio play will allow listeners to enjoy an entertaining audio experience that invites our community to come together around a shared artistic experience. We are looking forward to this broadcast and to sharing it with our listeners."

Tiger Style! features squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen, who reached the pinnacle of academic achievement and graduated from Harvard. But as adults, they're epic failures: he's just been passed up for a promotion and she's been dumped by her loser boyfriend. So, naturally, they confront their parents and launch an Asian Freedom Tour!

Tiger Style! explores what happens when educational achievements and hard work don't lead to personal or professional success. Travelling from California to China, this hilarious contemporary play examines the immigrant experience, racial stereotypes, parenting, and notions of success with wit and sharp humor.

"I'm honored to come back to this deeply personal play about my Chinese American upbringing," says playwright Mike Lew. "Americans' perceptions of the Chinese and of Asian Americans have been evolving so rapidly since I wrote Tiger Style! a few years ago. For this audio production, I had to refresh some aspects of the script and think through how I would integrate COVID and the trade wars. The structure of the play has stayed the same, but the lens is a little different now, and I considered the emergence of COVID, the scapegoating of the Chinese, and how the veneer of civility was wiped away quickly in the pandemic."

Lew and director Moritz von Stuelpnagel are long-time collaborators - von Stuelpnagel is a Boston University alumnus and the two met over a decade ago as interns at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. "Mike deals with complex social issues like racial bias and the immigrant experience in a way that's couched in madcap misadventure," says von Stuelpnagel. "It's boisterous fun that's smart. And no one is spared from his satiric wit. Making a podcast recording of a play is a whole new way of making art. While we won't get the immediate satisfaction of being in the same room as our audience, we can still reach people near, far, and wide. It's a beautiful and egalitarian way to tell the story."

The Huntington will also launch a video of an American Sign Language reading of Tiger Style! to be directed by Monique Holt (I Was Most Alive with You at the Huntington) in mid-February. Additional information will be announced shortly.

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