Theater Mu, (Formerly Mu Performing Arts), located in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, is an

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

arts organization in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, the second largest in the country. According to Mu's website, the company name "Mu" is "the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character Mu for the shaman-artist-warrior who connects the heavens and the earth through the tree of life." Theater Mu was founded in 1992 by

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, director, and

taiko are a broad range of Traditional Japanese musical instruments, Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese language, Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various J ...

artist

Rick Shiomi Rick Shiomi (born May 25, 1947)Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, Cengage Learning. 1980- 2009. is a Japanese Canadians, Canadian playwright, stage director, artistic director and taiko artist. Considered a maj ...

, along with Dong-il Lee, Diane Espaldon, and Martha Johnson. Six years later, the organization changed its name to Mu Performing Arts after starting a taiko drumming program known as Mu Daiko. Shiomi served as

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

for 21 years, stepping down in 2013. Randy Reyes took over as Artistic Director, and was subsequently fired by the Mu Board in 2018. Organizational changes occurred in 2017 as Mu Daiko transitioned to become a separate

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

arts organization, TaikoArts Midwest, and Mu reverted to its original name of Theater Mu. After Reyes was let go, the position was assumed by Lily Tung Crystal in 2019. Since its inception in 1993, Theater Mu's New Eyes Festival has been an annual tradition featuring staged readings of new works, and continues to the theater's longest running program. Mu's productions have included world premieres of new works by Leah Nanako Winkler and local playwright May Lee-Yang, re-imagined productions of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and Sondheim musicals, and collaborations with other theaters such as

Mixed Blood Theatre Company The Mixed Blood Theatre Company is a professional multiracial theatre company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded in 1976 by artistic director Jack Reuler, to explore race via the use of theater. History Jack Reuler founded Mixed Blood in 1 ...

, Jungle Theater, Penumbra Theatre Company, Park Square Theatre and

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions among Sir Tyrone Gut ...

to bring plays by award-winning playwrights such as

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

, Carla Ching, and Lauren Yee. Theater Mu is a founding member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists and is a member of the Minnesota Theater Alliance, Americans for the Arts, and

Theatre Communications Group Theatre Communications Group (TCG) is a non-profit service organization headquartered in New York City that promotes professional non-profit theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, us ...

. Mu is also a member of the Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition standing alongside New Native Theatre, Pangea World Theater, Penumbra Theatre, and Teatro Del Pueblo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theater Mu Asian-American theatre Theatre companies in Saint Paul, Minnesota Asian-American art 1992 establishments in Minnesota