Profile Theatre's Tiger Style is the best bargain in Portland theater. by John Rudoff Profile Theatre's Tiger Style is the best bargain to be found right now in Portland theater. You buy a ticket to a comedy and get—as a free bonu s—a dazzling array of vignettes dissecting Asian American education, life, relationships, and myths. It's giving a side eye to corporate life, showing how families break up and make up, and offering biting examples of Communist Party of China (CPC) politics. Such a deal! The kaleidoscopic Tiger Style doesn’t pile themes atop each other, hoping to make something work. This is a surefooted script by a deft and sophisticated craftsman who knows just what he wants to show and accomplish. Playwright Mike Lew introduces us to a panoply of characters, like Albert Chen (Nick Ong), a Harvard-educated software engineer who's considered a failure in his family because he isn't a doctor. Of course, his sister Jennifer (Evangeline Billups) is a Harvard MD/PhD oncologist and concert pianist, so she’s okay. Even as the brother and sister present to the world and one another as successful, their lives are secretly wretched. Evangeline Billups (left) and Nick Ong (right) John Rudoff Murri Lazaroff-Babin (left) and Evangeline Billups (right) John Rudoff Albert's coworker, Russ the Bus (Murri Lazaroff-Babin), is actively taking advantage of him at the office, and Jennifer was just dumped by her slacker boyfriend Reggie (also played by Lazaroff-Babin). Not one to go mildly, Jennifer nails Reggie with a precise read, telling him: “You’re a man-child with a cinder block for a brain and coal for a heart. Your hair’s thin, your dick’s thin.” Both siblings feel they are doormats for the unreflective, boundlessly-confident caucasian idiots in their respective orbits.  Initially, they conspire to demand an apology from their parents, a small recompense for their upbringing. Albert tells Jennifer: “Mom and Dad gave us no life skills. That’s the real reason you got dumped.” But the tables swiftly turn on them—their parents are far superior at psychological warfare. Their father (Heath Hyun) in particular drops an epic, “we’re not mad, we’re just disappointed,” and the match is won. No contest. Nick Ong (left) and Evangeline Billups (right) John Rudoff Giving up on the Western world, brother and sister set off on an “Asian Freedom Tour” to Shenzen, China. They immediately lose their money and passports, but are rescued by a CPC official. Soon, they find themselves awarded the elusive goals previously denied them—respect, wealth, resources, relationships, and especially a feeling of inclusion—but these benefits are not without costs.  Lew navigates many third rails with Tiger Style, exploring most obviously the effects and/or tropes of "tiger parenting," a term popularized by Amy Chua’s 2011 book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Despite their upbringings of ruthless, competitive, scholastic achievement, Albert and Jennifer still feel inadequate compared to their undisciplined white counterparts (both played by Lazaroff-Babin, who also appears as a nasty customs agent). Nick OngJohn Rudoff Left to right: Heath Hyun, Nick Ong, Julia Morizawa, and Evangeline BillupsPhoto by John Rudoff In fact, though the audience enjoys a parade of characters, there are only five actors in the cast. The master of this device is Hyun who squeezes comedy out of his omnipresence, invading personal space with great physicality. Do you see your father in a random man at a park? A nosey official;? A heartless Chinese general? Peter Kim’s direction is brisk; the second act is a little slower than the first, as more threads untangle. The ending is fascinating, if unexpectedly serious. For all the inversions of identities and deliberate stereotypes, we came away thinking about how we develop, own, and maintain our individuality.  Profile Theatre presents Tiger Style in the the Ellyn Bye Studio at the Armory, 128 NW 11th, through Sun Feb 8, $49.77, tickets and showtimes at profiletheatre.org ...read more read less