Chair
Adele Lennig is a Vice President of Product Development at Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. and is currently serving as our Board Chair. Adele, joined the Board of Directors of Mu Performing Arts because of her passion for theater and her interest in Asian American culture. A self-described theater junkie, she graduated from Webster University in St. Louis with a degree in Theater Arts-Directing and, after moving to Minneapolis, served as an assistant director during the early days of the Cricket Theater. In addition, she is the proud adoptive mother of both a Korean and a Chinese daughter and is always seeking to expose them to their particular Asian cultures and to the broader Asian American experience. Since she started with Mu in 2001, Adele has worked on the Personnel Committee and led the Audience Development Committee. In addition, because of her background in Directing, she occasionally has the opportunity to provide coaching and support to some of our up and coming Asian directors as a part of either our New Directions or our New Eyes festivals.
Director
Stephan Longthe Kieu was born in Saigon. His mother was a pharmacist and owned a pharmacy; his father was a math teacher and doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Stephan was enrolled in the National Music Conservatory from 1972-1979. He is the oldest of 5 siblings. In 1979, at the age of 16, he escaped succesfully from the communist regime and fled for freedom with 45 other people on a small fishing boat. Out of water, food, and fuel, the boat was rescued by a World Vision ship and resettled in the USA as refugees. Stephan joined his aunt and uncle's family in Fridley, MN, finished high school, and put himself through the U of MN studying computer science. He has been working in the informational technology field since 1986. Eleven years after resettling in MN, Stephan brought his parents and surviving sister to MN. His parents live in St. Anthony and his sister lives in Rochester, with her husband. Stephan currently resides in Minneapolis and works as a Test Consultant / Performance Engineer for STAMP Technologies LLC. & also contracts with various companies, large and small, in the Twin Cities. When not working, Stephan enjoys competitive racquet sports, travel, cooking, and playing the piano. In 1989, Stephan and teammates won the United States Tennis Association 3.5 National Championship. From time to time he enjoys a good game of squash or attending performing arts events with wife, Julie.
Director
Sunny, as she is known to most people, was adopted from Seoul, Korea, at 11 months old in 1970. She is proud to be part of the Korean adoptive community and works with younger adoptees on issues of self esteem. She has taught at the Korean Institute of Minnesota and at several of the Korean culture camps. Sunny is also dedicated to the arts and the community in which she lives. She is the recepient of a St. Paul Companies L.I.N. (Leadership in Neightborhoods) grant. She has served on several boards, including Children's Home Society and The Korean Quarterly. Sunny has been involved with Theater Mu since 1997. She originally worked with Mu's outreach program performing an autobiographical monologue, "My Story". Later, she and Rick Shiomi collaborated to write the book for "The Walleye Kid". Sunny is honored to be part of the Mu Performing Arts Board of Directors, as this is an exciting time of growth, artistically and operationally, for the organization. In her professional life she is the Development Officer at the Minnesota Private College Council, Fund and Research Foundation. Sunny is also proud to be partner to Jeff, mother to 6 year old Joseph, almost 2 year old Thomas, and newborn Patrick!
Treasurer
Gregory C. Anderson, CPA, is Executive Managing Principal of Ellerbe Becket, an international architecture and engineering firm. Greg has been active in numerous non-profit organizations, but has a particular interest in Mu’s mission because his family has blended in the Korean culture through adoption. Not a “stage dad” in any sense, Greg has taken an active interest in his daughters’ passion for acting and dance. He cheerfully rejoined the Mu Board as Treasurer in 2005.
Director
Lita Malicsi, former president of the Filipino American Association in the State of Minnesota, is the Association's current advisor/consultant. She is on the editorial board of the community newsletter, and has been the artistic director for numerous musicals and various productions for the FilAm community. Lita taught English and Theater Arts, and has been the artistic director for the Minneapolis Public Schools (Roosevelt HS) for several years. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards in Minnesota, including the Community Advisory Board of KTCA-TV, the Minneapolis Arts Commission, the MN Humanities Commission, the University of Minnesota President’s Advisory Council and others. Lita was named the 1996 Minnesota Teacher of the Year by WCCO and Minnegasco, and was one of the 20 teachers named Teacher of Excellence in the state of Minnesota in 1989. She is proud to be a member of the Board of Directors of Mu Performing Arts and thinks highly of its artists and staff.
Mu Artistic Director, Mu Daiko, Board of Directors, Core Artistic Group
As a playwright and director, Rick Shiomi has been one of the leading figures of the Asian American theater movement since the early 1980's. Relocating to Minnesota in the 1990's, he was one of the founders of Theater Mu and is presently the Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts. Mr. Shiomi's plays include the award winning Yellow Fever. He also co-authored The Walleye Kid with Sundraya Kase, Hmong Tiger Tales with Cha Yang, Temple of Dreams with Marcus Quiniones and The Magic Bus To Asian Folktales with Cha Yang and Jaz Canlas. He also co-authored the book for The Walleye Kid: The Musical. Yellow Feverhas been produced off-Broadway, in Japanese in Tokyo and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Mr. Shiomi has had his plays produced by the major Asian American theater companies: Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, Pan Asian Repertory in New York and East West Players in Los Angeles. He has also written screenplays for film and television including the Canadian award winning dramatic series ENG. Mr. Shiomi's has directed many of Theater Mu's productions and he has also directed at the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco and at Interact Theater in Philadelphia. As a Taiko performer, Shiomi began his career in the late 1970s with Katari Taiko in Vancouver, Canada. In the early 1980s, he studied and performed with the San Francisco Taiko Dojo under Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka. Over the past eight years he has trained all members of Mu Daiko, and has taught many others to play. Mr. Shiomi's other activities have included serving on the Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Pluralism Advisory Committee, as a board director at the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and on the Ordway Cultural Advisory Committee. He is an Alumni Member of the Playwrights' Center and he has served on numerous panels for the above bodies, for private foundations and on the steering committee for the Asian American Theater Festival planned for 2007. Mr. Shiomi recently received an Award for Leadership and Excellence in the Arts from the State Council of Asian Pacific Minnesotans.
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