Characters from We Are the Tigers and their tropes go here.
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The Tigers
As a Team
The tigers. note
- Cruel Cheerleader: played-with. The Tigers are complex, three-dimensional characters; they're capable of fulfilling this trope when bullying Reece and Farrah. But they're also capable of tenderness, loyalty, and depth.
- Pom-Pom Girl: deconstructed. This is the image The Tigers project...To cover up their deep-seated insecurities, traumas, and fears.
- Stepford Smiler: The team members deal with issues while putting up a happy front.
Riley Williams
Originated by: Lauren Zakrin
The new team captain for The Tigers determined that this year is going to be a great one. Upbeat and optimistic, despite the team's less than stellar reputation.
- Childhood Friends: With Cairo, who she's been friends with since at least the fourth grade.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: How Cairo presents their friendship when they were younger in "Wallflower".
- The Pollyanna: Riley remains positive even as her teammates are being murdered around her, though it's implied to be partially faked.
- Sanity Slippage Song: "The Breakdown", much of which is when her Stepford Smiler tendencies hit critical levels.
Cairo
Originated by: Wonu Ogunfowora
Riley's best friend and greatest supporter - very involved in the school's social scene and confident in her looks. Has a sharp tongue, but cares about her teammates deep down.
- Childhood Friends: With Riley, who she's been friends with since at least the fourth grade.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: How she presents her and Riley's friendship when they were younger in Wallflower.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cairo has a sharp tongue and can be very sarcastic.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Kate in IDK.
Kate Dalton
Originated by: Jenny Rose Baker
A sarcastic ex-gymnast who joined the cheerleading team because it's her last year with her best friend, Chess. Fiercly loyal to those she loves.
- Broken Pedestal: When she finds Chess' pills and realises that Chess has been lying to her about being okay, she doesn't take it well.
- Deadpan Snarker: To the point that she can hold her own against Cairo.
- Incompatible Orientation: Implied between her and Chess in Skype Tomorrow, although it's not clear if Chess is known to be attracted to men or if Kate just fears she'll meet a guy and fall in love with him.
- Butch Lesbian: downplayed; Kate is a bit of a tomboy when she's out of the cheerleading uniform. She's also perhaps in love with Chess, definitely dating Eva by the end of the musical. While she never puts a label on herself onstage, there's nothing to suggest she also fancies boys.
- Official Couple: With Eva.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Cairo in IDK.
Chess
Originated by: Celeste Rose
Kate's best friend. Almost made the Olympics, but had to drop out due to a knee injury and became addicted to painkillers.
- Broken Ace: She's the one of the best cheerleaders on the team, but she became addicted to painkillers. This causes all her relationships to become strained or broken.
- Broken Pedestal: To Kate, who claims to have been the one person left who believed in her, when she finds out she's taking painkillers again.
- Career-Ending Injury: Her knee injury put her out of the Olympics and, afterwards, she became addicted to painkillers.
- Functional Addict: Deconstructed. She is addicted to painkillers and still acts normal enough that her best friend seems to think she's fine, but "Before The Breakdown" reveals that she is struggling.
- Killed Off for Real: She's the first to go.
Reese
Originated by: Mimi Scardulla
The team's mascot, who still harbours dreams of becoming a cheerleader even as a senior.
- Acrofatic: While she's bullied for her weight, she's still a very capable cheerleader, and she's the one to take out Riley in the end.
- "I Want" Song: Captain of the Team
- Loser Team Mascot: This is how she is viewed by the other girls.
Annleigh O'Daniel
Originated by: Kaitlyn Frank
A deeply religious girl who is determined to wait until marriage. Farrah is her step-sister.
- Cool Big Sis: Averted with Farrah, who she resents having to take care of. However, she does try to play this to Mattie, trying to relate to her by telling her that she too joined as a freshman and welcoming her back in the Finale.
- Token Religious Teammate: A devout Christian and the only explicitly religious character on the team.
Farrah
Originated by: Zoe Jensen
Annleigh's stepsister. She's been struggling with alcohol ever since the team went viral when Chess dropped her the year before.
- The Alcoholic: Farrah has issues with alcohol - to the point that she brings a water bottle full of it to the sleepover.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Annleigh.
- Killed Off for Real: She's one of the murder victims.
Mattie Wheeler
Originated by: Cathy Ang
The newest member of the team - sweet, forgiving, and enthusiastic.
- Break the Cutie: Initially takes the fall for Riley's murders.
- Naïve Newcomer: A freshman who has only recently joined the team and doesn't have any established connections within it.
Eva Sanchez
Originated by: Sydney Parra
The highest-ranked flier in the state, who joins the team on a scholarship because the school has a great science program.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She delivers the team's pizza in act one, but only becomes prominent in act two.
- Official Couple: With Kate.
- Only Sane Man: She is the only girl who doesn't have a dark secret or insecurity, beyond wanting to earn money to help her parents out and go to college. "Shut Up and Cheer" lampshades this, along with the fact that, for all her common sense, she still signed up to be here.
Other Characters
Clark
Originated by: Louis Griffin
Annleigh's boyfriend.
- Killed Off for Real: And accidentally at that.
- Nice Guy: He's really nice guy who deeply cares for Annleigh.
- The One Guy: Only man in an otherwise all-female cast.
The Killer (UNMARKED SPOILERS!)
Originated by: Lauren Zakrin
The one behind the murders. Revealed to be Riley in the second-to-last song.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Cheerful, determined to be a good captain, and responsible for the murders of Chess and Farrah.
- Mask of Sanity: Much, much more unstable than she lets on.
- Stepford Smiler: Of the Unstable kind. For all her pep and cheer, Riley kills two people and almost kills a third.
- Villain Song: The second half of "The Breakdown" reveals her as the killer and serves as her Motive Rant.
