BY OONA KERSEY
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Rick Shiomi never planned to run an Asian American theatre company in Minneapolis/St. Paul. "In 1990 [that] was almost unthinkable," he says. "There might have been one Asian actor in the Twin Cities at the time." Yet in 1992, Shiomi agreed to join forces with Dong-Il Lee, Diane Espaldon, Martha Johnson, and Andrew Kim to form Theatre Mu, "an Asian-American theatre based in the wheat fields of the Midwest." Those fields proved arable, and eight years later, Theatre Mu is still growing.
As a member whose involvement was almost guaranteed to be temporary, Shiomi jokes about the fact that he is just about the last original member of the Mu family still around. Born and raised in Toronto, Shiomi was involved in Asian Canadian theatre in Vancouver during the 70s and early 80s, and traveled to California intermittently where he studied taiko, the art of Japanese drumming, and became acquainted with the Asian American theatre scene on the west coast. Shiomi achieved notoriety in 1982 with his play Yellow Fever, first produced in San Francisco, then in New York, where it received accolades from the New York Times and New Yorker, among others. His return to Toronto in 1985 was intended to be permanent, but occasional lecture gigs brought him to colleges in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. He joined Theatre Mu’s core artistic group after being approached by Dong-Il Lee, a Korean graduate student at the University of Minnesota who felt that Shiomi’s theatre experience would be a major asset to the company he wanted to start.
That experience was needed. The nascent Mu was comprised of writers, directors, and administrators, but no actors. Also, Lee’s primary interest lay in the Korean art of mask dance–not a common skill in the Twin Cities in 1992; the company had difficulty finding actors with any performing experience at all. They solved the problem by offering classes, in effect training their own performers. "One of the first things we started doing was holding workshops," says Shiomi. Theatre Mu’s earliest actors included friends, students, and others who expressed interest in participating in the workshops. This practice continues today; Shiomi says performers are still found among those who take classes, although the company also holds auditions.
At first, Shiomi recalls, Theatre Mu was "a traditional Asian American theatre company," relying on the small canon of "kitchen sink dramas and comedies" that were considered standard fare. Once a year, however, they teamed up with an outside artist to create a play incorporating traditional Asian art forms with modern forms of storytelling or performance. These "signature pieces" have used mask dance from Korea, taiko from Japan, classical dance from Cambodia and India and hula from Hawaii. Ultimately the company agreed that they wanted to devote all their attention to creating original works. Their mission statement explains: "Born of the union of Asian and American cultures, we envision theatre as a total sensory experience, merging ancient forms, traditions and stories, with contemporary ones. Through our art, we aspire to transform the perspective, experience, and understanding of the community and culture in which we live."
Can Theatre Mu lead the way from its seat in the proverbial wheat fields? Absolutely, says Shiomi, "If I were to go to New York or California I wouldn’t be able to do what I was doing here, because the system is already set up, along with the expected product. Being here has been a matter of great fortune. Here you don’t have to bang your head against an established system." Shiomi also considers it great fortune that there are many talented traditional Asian artists in the area, giving Theatre Mu a large number of potential collaborators. A recent piece, Song of the Pipa (March 2000), was created by Shiomi and Gao Hong, a pipa virtuoso from China who now lives in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Song of the Pipa combines a famous 7th century verse poem "The Pipa Player," with Hong’s own story of learning to play the pipa herself while growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution.
This combination of the traditional and the modern, Shiomi feels, is what sets Theatre Mu apart from other Asian American theatre companies, who still focus on social dramas. "I really feel that this is something that is ahead of the next wave," he says. He is not bothered by the high turnover of actors that work for the company, saying "each time someone walks out the door, someone even better walks in." Too, it is a source of pride that Theatre Mu has had a hand in the formation of any artist who decides to move on. And Shiomi feels that over the past 10 years the quality of theatre in the Twin Cities has improved, as has the pool from which Theatre Mu draws its performers.
But Theatre Mu’s strength really lies in those who run it. "It’s interesting that what’s more important is that particular artistic personnel come together, rather than that a particular demographic is matched. There isn’t a large Asian American theatre company in Chicago," Shiomi says, "but it’s not for lack of talent." Aside from a cohesive vision, Shiomi attributes the company’s success to the well organized structures set up by original managing director Diane Espaldon. Theatre Mu’s annual operating budget was $20,000 in 1992. Eight years later, it’s up to $300,000 annually and growing. Miraculously, they’ve done little to revamp their internal structure.
Shiomi, who has served as artistic director since Lee left the company in 1993, makes most decisions for the company, but other members are still involved in the process. Aside from a Board of Directors and a five person staff, the company has an Advisory Board (one member is David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly), and two groups of performers–Mu Daiko, the company’s taiko group, and MAAG, Mu Associated Actors Group.
Mu Outreach was created in 1996 and offers a variety of programs, including taiko demonstrations, music and mask lecture demos, and shorter plays, as well as pared down versions of their mainstage productions. Outreach director Susie Kuniyoshi says that the program has grown exponentially. When she arrived in 1998 it was estimated that the total number of outreaches done was about 30; the bulk of these were done during Asian/Pacific Awareness week in May, when schools were hunting for something to bring in. Kuniyoshi reports that so far this year Mu Outreach has done 130 productions and that they are busy year round. Though primarily involved with schools, summer camps, and park and recreation programs, Mu Outreach also offers diversity programs for community groups and corporations. They have performed for US West, 3M, Honeywell, EcoLab, and Northwest Airlines. Kuniyoshi hopes to increase involvement with senior citizens groups, perhaps offering taiko classes, another branch of Theatre Mu which is taking off. Kuniyoshi, who first became involved in Theatre Mu through a taiko class, feels that their productions are unique because they "tie the past to the present…drawing upon traditional dance and music forms [while] appealing to contemporary issues."
"Mu is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character for the shaman/artist/warrior who connects the heavens and the earth through the tree of life," explains the front page of the company’s Web site. Like the shaman, Theatre Mu seeks to connect, linking old art forms with new, fusing Asian cultures with American influence, demonstrating relationships where there seem to be only differences. Next season they plan to work with the New World Theatre of Massachusetts and the East West Players, a Los Angeles based group. One can only hope that, in this case, the coasts are ready for what we’ve got in the Midwest.
For more information on Theatre Mu, you can call 612/824-4804 or visit their Web site at www.theatremu.org.