TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Presents TIGER STYLE! A Claws-Out Comedy About Tiger ParentIng

This spring, the hilarious East-meets-West comedy Tiger Style! will be presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. This razor-sharp satire examines the cause and effects of strict “tiger” parenting, as 30-something Ivy League graduate siblings Albert and Jennifer wallow in their adult dissatisfactions with life despite their childhood ultra-achievements.

When their lives fall apart, they blame their parents and run away from California to China on an “Asian Freedom Tour” where calamity ensues. Tiger Style! will feature an all-star cast including the return of Obie Award winner Francis Jue (Soft Power, Yellow Face, M. Butterfly) and “Gilmore Girls” actor/theatre mainstay Emily Kuroda, who are joined by Jenny Nguyen Nelson, Will Dao, and Jeremy Kahn.

TheatreWorks Associate Producer of Casting & Literary Management Jeffrey Lo, whose productions of Little Shop of Horrors, The Language Archive, and The Santaland Diaries have been seen at TheatreWorks, directs this witty comedy that will resonate with any parent who ever tried to help their child, and any child who has ever blamed their parents. Tiger Style! will be presented April 6-28, 2024 (press opening: April 9) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St, Mountain View. For tickets ($27-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call 877-662-8978.

Written by Guggenheim Fellow Mike Lew (Teenage Dick), Tiger Style! made its World Premiere at Alliance Theatre and has since performed at leading theatres across the country. The San Diego Union-Tribune called it “a cultural mixmaster of laughs, attitude and insight. Lew's bursting-with-imagination comedy works up its own restless, breathless sense of investigation, as it takes on thorny topics of prejudice and cultural expectation.”

TheatreWorks is committed to creating an environment that is accessible for all audiences in its community. American Sign Language interpretation will be available at the performance of Tiger Style! at 7:30pm Tuesday, April 16. In partnership with c2 Caption Coalition, TheatreWorks will include open captioning (a screen displaying all dialogue and a description of sound effects) for the performances of Tiger Style! at 2pm and 7pm on Sunday, April 21 and 2pm Wednesday, April 24. TheatreWorks is collaborating with Gravity Access Services in offering audio descriptions to assist patrons who are visually impaired. This service will be available 8pm Saturday, April 27 and 2pm Sunday, April 28. (To utilize audio description, patrons should pre-register at 877-662-8978 after purchasing tickets). Assistive listening devices are offered at every performance with no advance registration required. For more information about accessibility programs at TheatreWorks the public may visit TheatreWorks.org/accessibility.

TheatreWorks will hold post-show discussions with the cast following the Wednesday, April 10 and Wednesday, April 24 performances of Tiger Style!.

TheatreWorks will require face masks to be worn for the performances of Tiger Style! at 8pm Friday, April 12; 2pm Saturday, April 13; and 2pm Sunday, April 21. For up-to-date information about COVID-19 health and safety procedures the public may visit TheatreWorks.org/safety.

Director Lo has assembled a crackerjack cast to bring this story to life. Francis Jue returns to TheatreWorks to portray Dad, as well as other roles including Tzi Chuan, Melvin, and General Tso. Jue has starred at TheatreWorks in M. Butterfly (Song), Cabaret (Emcee), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Molina), Amadeus (Mozart), Peter Pan (Peter Pan), tokyo fish story (Koji), and most recently The Language Archive (Resten). He is familiar to television audiences for his recurring roles as Chinese Foreign Minister Chen on CBS's popular “Madam Secretary” and as Medical Examiner Tom Li on “The Good Wife.” Jue's awards include Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards for his performance in Yellow Face at The Public Theater, an Obie Award for his performance in Wild Goose Dreams at The Public Theater, a Lucile Lortel Award for Cambodian Rock Band at Signature Theatre Company, and San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle (SFBATCC) Awards for his performances in Soft Power at the Curran and King of the Yees at San Francisco Playhouse. Jue has performed on Broadway in productions of Pacific Overtures, M. Butterfly, and Thoroughly Modern Mille, where he originated the role of Bun Foo. He has appeared frequently at The Public Theater, as well as regionally at St. Louis MUNY, Center Theatre Group, American Conservatory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, and others.

Seen in TheatreWorks' Calligraphy, The Language Archive, and in the 2023 TheatreWorks New Works Festival reading of Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical, Emily Kuroda returns to TheatreWorks to portray the role of Mom in this production, as well as other characters including Therapist, Cousin Chen, and Matchmaker. Known to television audiences as the uber-controlling Mrs. Kim on “Gilmore Girls,” she has enjoyed a lengthy career on stage, screen, and in TV series and movies. Her major film appearances include Red, Minority Report, Shop Girl, Maybe Someday, Hotel for Dogs, and many more. Kuroda's myriad  television credits also include “Bloodline,” “Six Feet Under,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Practice,” “ER,” “The Good Doctor,” “Chicago Hope,” “Melrose Place,” among others. Kuroda has won five Drama-Logue Awards for Outstanding Performance and has appeared at regional theatres including La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Playwright's Arena, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Seen in TheatreWorks' benefit livestream of Writing Fragments Home, Will Dao makes his TheatreWorks mainstage debut as Albert Chen. Dao has also acted with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, L.A. Theatre Works, San Francisco Playhouse, American Conservatory Theater, Ma-Yi Theater Company, WP Theater, Playwrights Foundation, Powerhouse Theater, Magic Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Crowded Fire Theater, Central Works, Bay Area Children's Theatre, Golden Thread Productions, and Asian American Theater Company.

Also seen in TheatreWorks' benefit livestream of Writing Fragments Home, Jenny Nguyen Nelson makes her TheatreWorks mainstage debut as Jennifer Chen. Nelson is a Vietnamese American theatre artist from the Bay Area who has also performed at American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Clubbed Thumb, Ars Nova, Trinity Repertory Company, California Shakespeare Theater, and Pacific Conservatory Theatre. She has been seen in workshops and readings at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Playwrights Center, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre's The Ground Floor.

Jeremy Kahn returns to TheatreWorks as Albert's friend Russ the Bus, Jennifer's loser boyfriend Reggie, and Customs Guy. Kahn was seen in TheatreWorks' Archduke and Peter and the Starcatcher, TheatreWorks' benefit livestream of Pandora, and in TheatreWorks New Works Festival readings of Laugh, The Disappearing Man, and Born in East Berlin. Kahn has also performed at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Center Repertory Company, Magic Theatre, and San Francisco Playhouse.

Tiger Style! features scenic design by Arnel Sancianco, costume design by Becky Bodurtha, lighting design by Kurt Landisman, sound design by Howard Ho, and wig design by Heather Sterling. Taylor McQuesten serves as stage manager with Laura Hicks as assistant stage manager.

Mike Lew's (Playwright) plays include Teenage Dick, Tiger Style!, Bike America, microcrisis, Moustache Guys, Tiny Father, and the book to the musical Bhangra Nation (Richard Rodgers Award; La Jolla Playhouse). His works have been performed at theatres including Donmar Warehouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company at The Public Theater, ART, Huntington Theatre Company, La Jolla Playhouse, Alliance Theatre and more. He is a Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Ma-Yi Theater Company and former La Jolla Playhouse Artist-in-Residence (both with wife Rehana Lew Mirza). He is former co-director of Ma-Yi Writers' Lab, the largest collective of Asian-American Playwrights in the country.

Jeffrey Lo (Director) is a Filipino American playwright and director. He is the recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artist Award, the Emerging Artist Laureate by Arts Council Silicon Valley, and Theatre Bay Area Director's TITAN Award. His plays have been produced and workshopped at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The BindleStiff Studio, City Lights Theater Company, and Custom Made Theatre Company. Directing credits include Little Shop of Horrors, The Language Archive, and The Santaland Diaries at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Chinglish, Hold These Truths, and The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin at San Francisco Playhouse; Every Brilliant Thing and Red Bike at Center Repertory Company; Vietgone and The Great Leap at Capital Stage; Peter and the Starcatcher and Noises Off at Hillbarn Theatre; The Crucible, Yellow Face, and The Grapes of Wrath at Los Altos Stage Company; Uncle Vanya at the Pear Theatre (SFBATCC award for Best Production); and A Doll's House, Part 2 and Eurydice at Palo Alto Players (TBA Awards finalist for Best Direction). Lo has also worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, and is a company member of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company and San Francisco PlayGround. In addition to his work in theatre he works as an educator and advocate for issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion and has served as a grant panelist for the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Silicon Valley Creates, and Theatre Bay Area. He is the Associate Producer of Casting & Literary Management at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley,

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, led by Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli in partnership with Executive Director Debbie Chinn, presents a wide variety of contemporary plays and musicals and revitalizes great works of the past. Founded in 1970 by Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks has grown from a truly original Silicon Valley start-up to become one of the nation's leading professional non-profit theatre companies. TheatreWorks was recently honored as the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. TheatreWorks also champions new work, offering artists support and a creative home as they develop new stories for the American theatre. Offstage, TheatreWorks' arts education programs in local schools and arts engagement programs in Silicon Valley neighborhoods uplift its audiences and strengthen community bonds. Onstage and off, TheatreWorks welcomes the mosaic of people that embody the Bay Area and beyond, celebrating the transformative power of theatre to ignite imagination, inspire conversation, and enliven our souls.

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