WGBH (GBH 89.7)/Boston To Air Audio Version Of 'Tiger Style!' Stage Play

Audio Play

WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION News-Talk WGBH (GBH 89.7)/BOSTON will air an audio version of the play "TIGER STYLE!" by MIKE LEW on FEBRUARY 6th 6-8p (ET), and the HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY will release the comedy as a four-part podcast in weekly installments starting FEBRUARY 4th along with a companion podcast series "EXPLORING TIGER STYLE!" THE HUNTINGTON produced the play on stage in 2016. The audio version will be directed by MORITZ VON STUELPNAGEL.

“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,” said THE HUNTINGTON Dir. 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 GBH GM/News PAM JOHNSTON. “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.”  

“I’m honored to come back to this deeply personal play about my Chinese American upbringing,” said 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.”

“MIKE deals with complex social issues like racial bias and the immigrant experience in a way that's couched in madcap misadventure,” said 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.”

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