Martha Johnson

Core Artistic Group
Martha Johnson is one of the founders of Theater Mu, and continues to serve as a Core Artistic Group Member at Mu Performing Arts. She is a Professor of Theater Arts at Augsburg College, where she has taught and directed for over 18 years. Before coming to Augsburg, Johnson was co-artistic director and actor for the 21st Street Players, an experimental theatre company that was active in the Twin Cities in the 1980s. She also taught acting at the Guthrie Theater outreach program for several years. Her most recent appearance as an actor was in Floating Mothers, which she co-created with Darcey Engen. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Drama from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rick Shiomi

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.

Iris Shiraishi

Staff (Taiko Programs Coordinator), Mu Daiko, Taiko Instructor, Core Artistic Group
Iris Shiraishi joined the staff in 2002 and as Taiko Programs Coordinator helps facilitate the public taiko classes along with the rehearsals and performances for the Mu Community Taiko Group and Mu Daiko.   She received her Ph.D. in Music from the University of Minnesota along with degrees in Arts Administration/Music Composition from the University of Iowa and Music Composition from the University of Hawaii.

Jennifer Weir

Mu Daiko, Taiko Instructor, Core Artistic Group, Mu Associated Artists Group
Active in both theater and taiko, Jennifer Weir is grateful to Mu for the many opportunities to perform, direct and create. Although she began her theater career as an actor, her recent experience is in directing.  On Mu's main stage, she directed Happy Valley by Aurorae Khoo, wrote and directed the one-act Demons of Noto Hanto and served as assistant director for Song of a Nisei Fisherman and Falling Flowers. She has participated in Mu's directing festivals with projects, Dipped in Love, Happy Valley, Architecture of Loss, Wonderland and Tokyo Bound.  Recently, she collaborated with Kaori Kenmotsu to create Charcoal Line Project, an exploration of the connecting spirit between taiko and modern dance. She is also a senior member of Mu Daiko and performs, teaches and composes taiko as often as she can.  Jennifer is a member of Mu's Core Artistic Group, and MAAG and Mu Daiko. She has received the American Composers Forum subito Grant, Artist Exploration Arts International Grant, Playwrights' Center Many Voices Grant, and the Asian American Renaissance Artist Career Development Jerome Re-Grant.