A one person storytelling/stand up show exploring the idea of finding one’s toughness. A Tiger’s Roar is a semi-autobiographical exaggerated journey of a petite Korean American female who is shrinking in size. She discovers she deserves to take up space and finally wants to confront those who have told her she does not belong — including the man who yelled at her on the bus as a child for bags being placed beside her and the other man who grabbed her on the street when she was four years old and told her she didn’t belong and needed to go back to her own country. How does someone who has always been told to be polite, deferential and selfless find her voice and her stature? How does she find her anger and her roar? Join her on her journey as she discovers Taekwondo and weight lifting. Will she finds her toughness — both on the inside and outside?A Tiger’s Roar is for those who are sometimes fed up by the perceptions of race, size and sex.
As a petite Asian female who is also a third degree black belt in taekwondo and a parent to a pre-teen identifying female, I’ve been thinking about the idea of toughness. Am I seen as weak because I am petite and Asian? How does one change perceptions of race and sexual identity? When is it important to be tough in this world and what does that mean? Does being tough mean building up walls or can acceptance, curiosity, and kindness equal toughness? Can being open and vulnerable mean also being extremely tough? When can we make sure we are in control of how one is perceived? Is this possible or only in theater?
