Lia Chang: Randy Reyes Embraces his Passion for Storytelling as an Actor, Director and Theater Educator

Randy Reyes embraces his passion for storytelling as an actor, director and theater educator. After attending the acting program at the University of Utah on scholarship, he was accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School. Once he graduated, he stayed in New York to pursue his acting career, but was frustrated with the lack of roles for an Asian American actor.

Randy Reyes

I sat down with Reyes for lunch at Mai Sushi in New York last Fall, to talk about his life in the theater and how he came to settle in the Twin Cities.

“I found it very frustrating as an Asian American actor trying to get jobs,” said Reyes. “The television shows and movies I was auditioning for were terrible parts, there was nothing exciting. I felt like the Asian American Theater Companies in New York, well, I have a better relationship with them now that I am in Minneapolis than I did when I was here trying to get a job, coming out of Juilliard. I found it very insular. It takes a while to have them embrace you. I was shocked. I thought one of the Asian American Theater Companies was going to be my home, at least. I ended it up doing a lot of regional theater work which took me out of town, and then I would have to come back and start all over again. Those parts were at least interesting. I was doing a lot of Shakespeare.”

He soon discovered his artistic home in the Twin Cities at Mu Performing Arts, Minnesota’s only pan-Asian performing arts organization, which is the second largest Asian American performing arts company in the United States. He wears many hats at Mu Performing Arts, including actor, director, artistic associate and community liason.

Randy Reyes and the cast of Mu Performing Arts' production of David Henry Hwang’s revisal of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. Photo by Michal Daniel.

“A lot of things came together,” said Reyes. “First of all, I was frustrated. I had been here for ten years, including school. Career wise, I wasn’t progressing the way I wanted to. I needed a change. I didn’t want to live the way I was living. I was getting jobs and going on unemployment, getting jobs, going on unemployment. I thought, ‘I’m in my 30’s and I don’t want to live in a tiny room. I don’t want to keep getting unemployment. I want a higher standard of living. I want to own something. I don’t want to keep throwing money into a pit that I never see anything from.’ My girlfriend was from Winona, MN. I was in talks with the Guthrie. I was getting hired there as an actor and I was doing a lot of education work while I was there. Joe Dowling was interested in creating a job for me as a theater education director so he offered me a job. It was the hardest thing to do, to move out of NY, but in looking back, it was really a great move for me. You feel like you are leaving your dreams, but the idea of success had changed for me. I bought a car. I live in a condo, which my girlfriend owns. We have space. And I am doing a lot of theater.”

Eric Sharp and Randy Reyes in David Henry Hwang's Tony award-winning M. Butterfly at the Guthrie in 2010. Photo by Michal Daniel

Reyes has performed for the Guthrie, Mu Performing Arts, The Workhaus Collective, Thirst Theater, Chicago Ave Project, and Mixed Blood, MN Fringe Festival, and has had leading roles in Little Shop of Horrors, The Damn Audition, M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Music Lovers, The Romance of Magno Rubio, Flower Drum Song and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Sara Ochs as Audrey and Randy Reyes as Seymour in the Mu Performing Arts production of Little Shop of Horrors. Photo by Michal Daniel

He has been at the helm of Thoroughly Modern Millie and City of Angels at the Bloomington Theater and Arts Center; King of Shadows at the Pillsburyhouse Theatre; the Workhaus Collective’s production of God Save Gertrude at the Playwrights’ Center; WTF, Cowboy Versus Samurai and Circle Around the Island with Mu Performing Arts at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio; Suitcase Science, VOICES, and The Value of Life at the Science Museum; ZOMO/RAVEN for the Mill City Museum’s Go Read Day; FOUND at Augsburg College; and Antigone at Macalester College. As the Artistic Director for a theater company (The Strange Capers) company that does outdoor Shakespeare in the spirit of a gift, he has directed productions of Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Reyes teaches acting and movement at the University of Minnesota BFA Actor Training Program and has taught at NYU Grad Acting Program, Wagner College, University of Utah, The Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training, and Augsburg College.

“Rick Shiomi, the artistic director of Mu Performing Arts, welcomed me when I moved to Minneapolis,” shared Reyes. “I found a home immediately with an Asian American Theater Company, a family that I’d been looking for for 10 years. I’ve been working there ever since. We got a TCG, a mentor/mentorship grant so that I could learn about being an artistic director. Rick took me under his wing. That’s been amazing. I curate their festivals and new play readings. I train, I do outreach. We having a program called The Mu Stories-going into the classrooms, usually ELL classes- doing a workshop, and they end up telling their stories and performing. It’s a very powerful program that Rick started and I’ve taken over. I also set up pre-show panels that take place a month before the show happens to talk about the issues in the play, post show discussions. I also started my own theater company, The Strange Capers. We do an outdoor Shakespeare production, one a year so it doesn’t take up too much of my time. It’s been 3 years, we’re getting grants, funding and growing our audience. A lot of things are happening in Minneapolis that I think would taken much longer for me anywhere else.”

This month, he is directing Mu Performing Arts’ production of A. Rey Pamatmat’s Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, which begins preview performances on March 13th at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St in Minneapolis, MN. Randy Reyes directs Mu Performing Arts’ production of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. Rey Pamatmat at Mixed Blood Theatre, March 13-April 1, 2012 In Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, three kids — Kenny (Alex Galick), his sister Edith (Isabella Dawis), and their friend Benji (Matthew Cerar) — are all but abandoned on a farm in remote Middle America. With little adult supervision, they feed and care for each other, making up the rules as they go. But when Kenny’s relationship with Benji becomes more than friendship, and Edith shoots something she really shouldn’t shoot, the formerly indifferent outside world comes barging in whether they want it to or not.

Reyes said,”My mother worked two jobs to support us, so my sisters and I spent hours and hours every week fending for ourselves. Kenny and Edith have to take care of each other in the same way, the difference being that my sisters and I knew that our mother was coming home. Kenny and Edith have no idea when their father will make an appearance. This lack of adult supervision creates a bond among siblings unlike any other.”

LC: What led you to acting?
RR: My mom encouraged me to perform, sing and dance, whenever family and friends came over. I wanted to be a performer, a singer. I was a soloist for the church choir, until my voice changed. That was horrible. Really traumatic. My voice changed dramatically, really fast. I had to quit choir. It was very shocking to the system (age?). I went to Sherman Oaks, a private catholic high school in LA. There was a great drama teacher there and it was a way for me to perform without singing. It was a different form of performance that I really enjoyed. It fed that performance aspect but it didn’t necessarily have to do with singing. I started to sing again, and took some singing lessons just to get used to my new voice. All my training has been classical. I am a classical trained actor.

LC: What brought you to New York?
RR: Juilliard. I went to University of Utah in Salt Lake City for my undergrad in the acting program there. It was one of the only programs that accepted me with any kind of scholarship out of high school. I didn’t know what I was doing out of high school anyway, so it was good to be in Utah without any distractions. It was a really good program. The guy who ran it was great. There was nothing going on in Utah. I could focus. And it was safe. Then I got into Juilliard.

LC: Was Juilliard your first choice?
RR: As an Asian American actor, I didn’t see myself represented very much. I felt I needed a place like Juilliard to set me apart from other people. That was my mindset at the time. I felt the name would get me in doors that I otherwise couldn’t. I found that to be true.

LC: What are your three favorite roles?
RR: I did a tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Guthrie where I played Puck. That was really awesome. It was a huge tour. We had 3 semis coming to town. We went to these small towns that hadn’t seen anything like that. It was a cool rock and roll production. Very accessible and the kids loved it. Recently, I played Song in M. Butterfly at the Guthrie and Magno in Lonnie Carter’s The Romance of Magno Rubio at Mu Performing Arts.

LC: Did David Henry Hwang come to see you in his plays that you appeared in?
RR: David and I have known each other a long time. I did the final workshop of Flower Drum Song before it went to LA. I played Harvard. That’s when I first met David. That was the first all Asian American cast I’ve ever been a part of. I was still at Juilliard. He came to see Yellow Face and M. Butterfly. He gave notes.

Randy Reyes and Kim Kivens in The Guthrie presentation of a Mu Performing Arts production of Yellow Face, by David Henry Hwang. Photo by Michal Daniels

LC: What are you teaching at the University?
RR: I teach acting and movement to the BFA students. They have an actor training program in the undergraduate program. In Utah, Kenneth Washington ran the program; he now runs the company development at the Guthrie. He also teaches at NYU and Juilliard, so he actually directed me while I was at Juilliard. He runs their training program. There’s a deep tie.

Randy Reyes as Magno Rubio in Mu Performing Arts' production of Lonnie Carter's The Romance of Magno Rubio. Photo by Stephen Geffrey

LC: How did you get into directing?
RR: I think I’ve always wanted to direct. I have that part of my brain when I’m in rehearsal where I think about things and sometimes it’s annoying. I have to stop myself in rehearsal when I’m an actor and remind myself to just act. I was always interested. I like to sit in rehearsals when I’m not even called and just be in the room. I get excited about tech. That’s when all of the theater stuff happens, lights, costumes. It’s something I’ve always wanted. The first professional play I directed was with Mu at the Guthrie at the Dowling Studio. Rick said, “Do you want to direct this play, Circle Around the Island?” It is by a Filipino-Hawaiian, with movement, theater, Hula. Really simple, but really elegantly told. Rick had a crazy trust that I could do it and just handed it over to me. From then on, I got jobs around Minneapolis because of that. Rick has also continued to hire me. It’s pretty consistent and I think I’m getting better every time. I know how to act. I’m very comfortable as an actor. I feel like I’m learning as a director. I learn about acting when I ‘m directing and I learn about directing when I am acting. I learn from other directors that I’m working with as an actor. So it’s great that I continue to learn and train as I function in every aspect of what I do in theater.

If you had asked me like 7 or 8 years ago, told me that I was going to be in Minneapolis and that I would have thriving career there, I would have said you were insane. No way. I’ve grown so much there. Things might change. Opportunities might come up. I don’t see that Minneapolis is going to be the end all. I’m an artist.

LC: What has been the most important experience you’ve had in Minneapolis?
RR: My relationship with Mu Performing Arts was a part of my life that I was missing as an artist. I trained at Juilliard. I had a very good sense of myself as an actor in America, but not as an Asian American actor, even as a human being. My identity was more white that it was Asian, until I started working with Mu Performing Arts. It really set my politics. It really set my identity. How I wanted to be perceived not only as a human being, but also as an artist. I’ve brought that along in a profound way that affects every aspect of who I am. I bring that to all of my projects that I do in Minneapolis, and in general. I don’t want to be ignored anymore. Being Asian and the way I look, I want that to be part of the choice that we’re making in the play. I don’t care if it is a Chekhov play, a Shakespeare play, or even A Christmas Carol. I need to know that the way I look is not being ignored. That’s a lot of responsibility.

LC: How does the AA talent pool in MN compare to that in NYC and LA?
RR: Tinier. Small pool and young. No 50-60 year old men or women. We joke, there are 3 of us guys, and all the same age and we’ve all played each other’s fathers. Energetic and sweet. We’re trying to train Asian American actors. Trying to find ways of training.

LC: What are you most passionate about?
RR: I love telling stories. I love either having people tell me stories or me watching stories being told, me telling stories, or me pulling together a process of storytelling. That could be visual, that could be text. I don’t even care. I love being introduced to a world and taken on a journey and discovery. I love exploring all the different ways that can happen, all the different ways we can tell a story. I like it live. I like breathing the same air as my audience. I think that shared imagination is very addictive. I love that in watching live music. I love the live aspect of performance. It’s up to the audience to imagine. That’s the beauty of live theater.

LC: What do you see in your future?
RR: I’d love to run a midsize to large theater company. It’s a combination of devising new work and supporting new playwrights, and also doing classics in a very exciting way. I do want to act still. I don’t want to stop acting. I don’t think one has to. I want it all.

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them begins preview performances on March 13th at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St in Minneapolis, MN. Opening night is March 16th, and the show runs through April 1, 2012, with performances Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm. Tickets for preview performances on March 13th, 14th and 15th are $18. Tickets for the run are $25 (adults) and $10 (students) and can be purchased by calling the Mixed Blood Theatre box office at 612-338-6131 or by visiting www.muperformingarts.org.

Related Articles
Randy Reyes directs Mu Performing Arts’ production of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. Rey Pamatmat at Mixed Blood Theatre, March 13-April 1, 2012
Mu Performing Arts’ Little Shop of Horrors on 2 ‘Best of’ Lists; Women in Arts Panel on 1/29, in Conjunction with Mu Daiko’s 15th Anniversary Concert and Tour
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour, February 9-19, 2012
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Photos: Opening Night of Mu Performing Arts’ Katie Hae Leo’s Four Destinies
Photos: Backstage at Mu Performing Arts’ Four Destinies by Katie Hae Leo
Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
Up Close and Personal with Rick Shiomi, Award-winning Playwright & Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
Temple Press: Rick Shiomi recounts his tour for “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”
Mu Blog: Rick Shiomi’s Book Tour Logbook
knightarts.org: Reading on the road inside the book tour
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
Photos: Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29 “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, A New Anthology of Asian American Plays Is Subject of Book Talk
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
asiancemagazine.com: New Anthology of Asian American Plays Book Talk
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

In 2010, the Library of Congress established The Lia Chang APA Theater Portfolio in the Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian Pacific American Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, Smartmoney.com The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.



All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2012 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com

Lia Chang: Mu Performing Arts’ BEFORE ‘IT GETS BETTER’: SUPPORTING LGBTQI YOUTH Community Forum at Augsburg College, February 26, 2012

In conjunction with their upcoming production of A. Rey Pamatmat’s Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Mu Performing Arts is presenting a community forum, BEFORE ‘IT GETS BETTER’: SUPPORTING LGBTQI YOUTH, on Sunday, February 26, 2012 at Augsburg College, Christensen Center – Marshall Room, 22nd Ave South at 7 ½ Street in Minneapolis at 1pm. Admission is free and reservations are required. Click here to reserve your ticket.

Moderated by Jason Jackson, a program assistant with Out for Equity, Shawyn Lee, a gender-queer identified Korean adoptee Ph.D. student will be among the panelists who will share what it means to be an LGBTQI youth in America today, and discuss how family, race, economics, media, and government policy impact their lives and where they can go for support.

BEFORE ‘IT GETS BETTER’: SUPPORTING LGBTQI YOUTH is co-sponsored by SOY (Shades of Yellow), in partnership with Augsburg College office of Pan Asian Student Services and office of LGBTQIA Services. For more information about the forum: Before ‘It Gets Better’ or Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, please contact Mu Performing Arts at 651-789-1012 or go online at www.muperformingarts.org.

Click here to read about EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. Rey Pamatmat at Mixed Blood Theatre, March 13-April 1, 2012
Mu Performing Arts
Mu was first founded in 1992 as Theater Mu, a theater company dedicated to bringing Asian American voices to the stage in the Twin Cities at a time when Asian American theater did not exist in the area and the Asian American community was rarely recognized. After forming Mu Daiko, a taiko drumming ensemble, the company rebranded itself as Mu Performing Arts, reflecting their broad artistic base of theater, taiko, and artist development. Mu Performing Arts remains Minnesota’s only pan-Asian performing arts organization, and has grown into the second largest Asian American performing arts company in the United States. In 2011, Mu Performing Arts published a new anthology of plays through Temple University Press, Asian American Plays for a New Generation. Six of the seven plays included were commissioned and/or produced by Mu. Each season, Mu produces three mainstage plays and one mainstage taiko concert, along with numerous artist development programs and other special events. Celebrating its 20th Anniversary mainstage season, Mu Performing Arts continued its string of ‘Best of’ top end of year picks by The Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press, with last year’s musical offering Little Shop of Horrors. In the last three seasons, seven out of nine productions have been listed on end of year lists. www.muperformingarts.org.

Related Articles
Randy Reyes directs Mu Performing Arts’ production of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. Rey Pamatmat at Mixed Blood Theatre, March 13-April 1, 2012
Mu Performing Arts’ Little Shop of Horrors on 2 ‘Best of’ Lists; Women in Arts Panel on 1/29, in Conjunction with Mu Daiko’s 15th Anniversary Concert and Tour
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour, February 9-19, 2012
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Photos: Opening Night of Mu Performing Arts’ Katie Hae Leo’s Four Destinies
Photos: Backstage at Mu Performing Arts’ Four Destinies by Katie Hae Leo
Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
Up Close and Personal with Rick Shiomi, Award-winning Playwright & Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
Temple Press: Rick Shiomi recounts his tour for “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”
Mu Blog: Rick Shiomi’s Book Tour Logbook
knightarts.org: Reading on the road inside the book tour
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
Photos: Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29 “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, A New Anthology of Asian American Plays Is Subject of Book Talk
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
asiancemagazine.com: New Anthology of Asian American Plays Book Talk
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

In 2010, the Library of Congress established The Lia Chang APA Theater Portfolio in the Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian Pacific American Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com.

Lia Chang: Randy Reyes directs Mu Performing Arts’ production of EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM by A. Rey Pamatmat at Mixed Blood Theatre, March 13-April 1, 2012

Mu Performing Arts, Minnesota’s only pan-Asian performing arts organization, and the second largest Asian American performing arts company in the United States, continues its 20th anniversary 2011-2012 season with the new play Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat. Randy Reyes directs.

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them begins preview performances on March 13th at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St in Minneapolis, MN. Opening night is March 16th, and the show runs through April 1, 2012, with performances Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm. Tickets for preview performances on March 13th, 14th and 15th are $18. Tickets for the run are $25 (adults) and $10 (students) and can be purchased by calling the Mixed Blood Theatre box office at 612-338-6131 or by visiting www.muperformingarts.org.

In Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, three kids — Kenny (Alex Galick), his sister Edith (Isabella Dawis), and their friend Benji (Matthew Cerar) — are all but abandoned on a farm in remote Middle America. With little adult supervision, they feed and care for each other, making up the rules as they go. But when Kenny’s relationship with Benji becomes more than friendship, and Edith shoots something she really shouldn’t shoot, the formerly indifferent outside world comes barging in whether they want it to or not.

Upon reading Edith, director Randy Reyes found a personal connection to the world of the play.

“My mother worked two jobs to support us, so my sisters and I spent hours and hours every week fending for ourselves. Kenny and Edith have to take care of each other in the same way, the difference being that my sisters and I knew that our mother was coming home. Kenny and Edith have no idea when their father will make an appearance. This lack of adult supervision creates a bond among siblings unlike any other.”

Special programs and events for Edith include:
• A community forum entitled Before ‘It Gets Better’: Supporting LGBTQI Youth will be held at Augsburg College on Sunday, February 26 at 1:00 pm. Click HERE to reserve your free ticket for the forum and for more details.
• Lavender Magazine’s “Night at the Theater”- March 22 at 7:30 pm. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided beginning at 6:30 pm in the Mixed Blood Theatre lobby.
• Post-show discussions will be held after the 2:00 pm performances on Sunday afternoons March 18 and 25.
Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them is part of a rolling world premiere produced in collaboration with National New Play Network and Shades of Yellow.

Mu Performing Arts
Mu was first founded in 1992 as Theater Mu, a theater company dedicated to bringing Asian American voices to the stage in the Twin Cities at a time when Asian American theater did not exist in the area and the Asian American community was rarely recognized. After forming Mu Daiko, a taiko drumming ensemble, the company rebranded itself as Mu Performing Arts, reflecting their broad artistic base of theater, taiko, and artist development. Mu Performing Arts remains Minnesota’s only pan-Asian performing arts organization, and has grown into the second largest Asian American performing arts company in the United States. In 2011, Mu Performing Arts published a new anthology of plays through Temple University Press, Asian American Plays for a New Generation. Six of the seven plays included were commissioned and/or produced by Mu. Each season, Mu produces three mainstage plays and one mainstage taiko concert, along with numerous artist development programs and other special events. Celebrating its 20th Anniversary mainstage season, Mu Performing Arts continued its string of ‘Best of’ top end of year picks by The Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press, with last year’s musical offering Little Shop of Horrors. In the last three seasons, seven out of nine productions have been listed on end of year lists. www.muperformingarts.org.

Related Articles
Mu Performing Arts’ Little Shop of Horrors on 2 ‘Best of’ Lists; Women in Arts Panel on 1/29, in Conjunction with Mu Daiko’s 15th Anniversary Concert and Tour
Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert and Minnesota Tour, February 9-19, 2012
Photos: Yellow Fever Playwright Rick Shiomi Explores New Territory with An All-Female Cast
Photos: Opening Night of Mu Performing Arts’ Katie Hae Leo’s Four Destinies
Photos: Backstage at Mu Performing Arts’ Four Destinies by Katie Hae Leo
Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
Up Close and Personal with Rick Shiomi, Award-winning Playwright & Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
Temple Press: Rick Shiomi recounts his tour for “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”
Mu Blog: Rick Shiomi’s Book Tour Logbook
knightarts.org: Reading on the road inside the book tour
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
Photos: Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29 “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, A New Anthology of Asian American Plays Is Subject of Book Talk
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
asiancemagazine.com: New Anthology of Asian American Plays Book Talk
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang. Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist.

In 2010, the Library of Congress established The Lia Chang APA Theater Portfolio in the Asian Pacific American Performing Arts Collection housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian Pacific American Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, Smartmoney.com The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.



All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2012 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at lia@backstagepasswithliachang.com

Lia Chang: Up Close and Personal with Rick Shiomi, Award-winning Playwright & Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts

Rick Shiomi at a book party in New York for Asian American Plays for a New Generation on July 29, 2011. Photo by Lia Chang

For nearly 30 years, groundbreaking Asian-North American playwright Rick Shiomi has worked as a successful theater and taiko artist, a theater director, and a composer. The Toronto native is the author of more than twenty plays, including my favorite, the award-winning Yellow Fever, which garnered Shiomi a 1982 Bay Area Theater Circle Critics Award, a 1982 “Bernie” for new play from the San Francisco Chronicle , and a 1984 Ontario Multicultural Theater Award.

Mask Dance, written and directed by Shiomi. Photo credit: Charissa Uemura Photography

Shiomi resides in Minneapolis, MN, where he has served as the artistic director of Mu Performing Arts, a pan-Asian performing arts organization he helped to co-found, for 19 years.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Rick Shiomi. Photo credit: Charissa Uemura Photography

Lauded as a visionary force who has paved the way and provided opportunities for a generation of Asian American theater artists in the Midwest,Shiomi has been recognized with a 1990 Ruby Schaar Yoshino Playwriting Award for Uncle Tadao, a 2000 Minnesota State Arts Board Cultural Collaborations Award with Cha Yang and SteppingStone Theatre for Tiger Tales: Hmong Folktales, 2002 Asian-Pacific Leadership Award for Excellence & Innovation in the Arts from the State of Minnesota Council of Asian Pacific Minnesotans , a 2006 Award from the Powell Street Festival on the 30th anniversary of the Festival, and a 2007 Sally Ordway Irvine Award for Vision.

As the founder and artistic director of Mu Daiko, Mu Performing Arts’ taiko division, Shiomi was honored with a 1998 MN State Arts Board Cultural Collaborations Award for taiko drumming, a collaboration with Ragamala Music and Dance Theater, a 2002 Paddle and Drum Composition Award for Chrysanthemum Dawn and a 2004 Paddle and Drum Composition Award for Kiyomizu Cascade. He recently retired as the taiko leader with Iris Shiraishi taking over the leadership of Mu Daiko.

Rogers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, with a new book by David Henry Hwang, directed by Rick Shiomi. Photo by Michal Daniel

This summer, Shiomi was on a week long book tour for Mu Performing Arts in Philadelphia, in Washington D.C. at the Library of Congress, and in New York, promoting “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” (Temple University Press, June 2011), which he co-edited with Josephine Lee and Don Eitel. Click here to read more about “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, available online at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Asian-American-Plays-New-Generation/dp/1439905169

Mu Performing Arts kicks off their 20th Anniversary with Four Destinies. Photo by Stephen Geffre

He is in pre-production as Mu Performing Arts’ kicks off their new season with the world premiere of Katie Hae Leo’s satirical exploration of adoption Four Destinies, directed by Suzy Messerole, on October 15 at Mixed Blood Theatre.

Playwrights David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda and Rick Shiomi in San Francisco in 1988. A version of this photo appeared in a feature article in the Feb.- Mar. 1989 edition of Mother Jones. Photo by Cynthia Wallace

Shiomi is clad in a striped black shirt and black slacks when he slides into the banquette at Cinema Brasserie for our lunch during his short visit to New York. While noshing on fried calamari and a roasted turkey club, he reminisced about the good old days with fellow pioneering theater artists Philip Kan Gotanda, Marc Hayashi, David Henry Hwang and Lane Nishikawa, how he became a playwright, his path to success, the genesis of Mu Performing Arts, the Library of Congress, projects in the works and what’s in store as the company celebrates its 20th anniversary.

LC: How did you get into playwriting?
RS: For as long as I can remember, perhaps even into childhood, I felt this urge to write stories. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to firstly find something of my own to say and secondly, the medium of writing to express it. For example, I dreamed of writing the valedictorian speech for my high school graduation, but when I sat down to write nothing came out. So I put that dream away.

Rick Shiomi Photo by Lia Chang

During my university days I thought of writing but felt too inadequate to study English so I studied history and then political science. I graduated and left Toronto and moved to Vancouver, where I got my teaching diploma in 1972 and promptly left to travel the world. That trip around the world took two years but even then, when I tried to write some short stories in Hong Kong, nothing came out.

I returned to Vancouver in 1974 and gradually became involved in an Asian Canadian activist group that included a lot of artists, including many poets. I knew early on that I was a poor poet, and struggled mightily with my prose writing. I did get one story published in Time Capsule, a New York magazine but the primary discovery for me was that of Japanese Canadian history and the internment camps. I felt I had found my own motherlode of artistic treasure and now only needed to find the way to express it. The first incarnation was a Woody Allenesque short story detective comedy, with the main character inspired by a Nisei man who reminded me of the tv detective, Columbo. I wrote a hundred pages almost overnight.

Philip Kan Gotanda, Rick Shiomi and David Henry Hwang photos by Lia Chang

I had had the good fortune to get to know Philip Gotanda through his music but I knew he was also an emerging playwright at the time. And I asked him to read my detective comedy. After a few days, I asked Philip what he thought of my story and he pulled out one page and said he liked that one. He said he liked the dialogue, because it was tight and seemed to flow easily. He asked me if I had ever thought of turning it into a play and I said I hadn’t because there was no such thing as Asian Canadian theater at the time (circa 1979). So he suggested I submit the story to the Asian American Workshop in San Francisco, the company he had worked with on his plays. And that started me on a two year journey to adapt the short story into a play.

R.A. Shiomi's award-winning play Yellow Fever. Photo by John To

LC: What was the process of writing your first play like?
RS: I had to learn about playwriting from the ground up, with many laughable moments along the way. When the company asked me to submit an outline for the play, I put together an eight act, fifty scene outline. They eventually asked me to write a first draft of a the first act and I did so. On the basis of that, they took on my project with Marc Hayashi as my dramaturg. Marc worked with me for about a year, in which he guided me to my own writing, even to the extent of telling me to concentrate on the conflicts I had created in the first act. When I did, the lighbulb in my head began to turn on.

As fate would have it, Marc was cast in a show in New York and Lane Nishikawa was assigned to be my director for the actual production. As we worked through rehearsal and I rewrote virtually every scene, I felt like this was a time of grace for me because playwriting could not be this easy. I was right (fortunately and unfortunately) and as the play came together, I discovered my own particular style. The play, Yellow Fever, was produced in March 1982 and was a big hit for the company. It won both the Bay Area Theater Circle Critics Award and a “Bernie” for new play.

LC: What happened with you and Yellow Fever after that initial production?
RS: I sent it to Pan Asian Repertory Theater in New York and they produced it in December of that same year and it received rave reviews by Mel Gussow in the New York Times and Edith Oliver in the New Yorker Magazine. And suddenly I was a playwright, as if overnight, but in fact after fifteen years of searching for my own story and voice.

Tisa Chang, Artistic Producing Director of Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Carla Ching, Artistic Director of Second Generation, Rick Shiomi, Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts, Jorge Ortoll, Executive Director of Ma-Yi Theater Photo by Lia Chang

I would never have the same level of success again, having written over twenty plays over the past thirty years, but I am still a playwright and feel blessed for having that. My writing career of course never went as smoothly as that first play. I wrote such plays as Rosie’s Café, Uncle Tadao and Play Ball in the latter 1980’s into the 1990’s but though they got a number of productions, I never had the same success. Of course, Yellow Fever itself went on to be produced across the country over the next several years and cyclically gets revival productions as part of the classic canon of Asian American theater. By the early 1990’s I felt that I had somehow written the plays I had wanted to.

The Magic Bus to Asian Folktales by R.A. Shiomi, Cha Yang and Jaz Canlas. Photo courtesy of Mu Performing Arts

LC: What was the genesis of Mu Performing Arts?
RS: It began with Dong-il Lee, a U of M graduate student asking me to help him start an Asian American company in 1992. We involved theater professor Martha Johnson of Augsburg College, Diane Espaldon as the managing director and young artist Andrew Kim. Dong-il was the initial artistic director but left Minnesota after the first year and I took over. It took at least ten years to develop the core of our company but we are now riding a wave of talented young (under forty year olds) theater artists.

Walleye Kid: The Musical! by R.A. Shiomi and Sundraya Kase; Music by Kurt Miyashiro. Photo by John Autey

LC: What makes Mu Performing Arts unique?
RS: Mu has been in the forefront of not only developing new plays like Ching Chong Chinaman by Lauren Yee, Cowboy Versus Samurai by Michael Golamco and Asiamnesia by Sun Mee Chomet, but also combining traditional Asian art forms with contemporary Asian American stories, as in Walleye Kid, The Musical, and Filipino Hearts.

Filipino Hearts by R. A. Shiomi and Allen Malicsi, Music and Lyrics by Kurt Miyashiro. Photo courtesy of MU Performing Arts

LC: The Library of Congress just celebrated the launch of “Asian American Plays for A New Generation,” an anthology co-edited by you, Josephine Lee and Don Eitel, of a number of plays that were developed at Mu. In addition, LOC just created a collection in your name in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection, and will also be a repository for the archives of Mu Performing Arts. What does this mean to you?
RS: It means a tremendous step forward for our company. The anthology by Temple University Press gives a national recognition to our work this past ten years and ensures our company will be studied by the next generation of students at the university level. And a hundred years from now Mu Performing Arts may not exist, but our place in Asian American theater history will be secure in the Library of Congress.

Rick Shiomi in the Asian Reading Room of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on July 27, 2011. Photo by Lia Chang

LC: Do you have any writing projects in the works?
RS: I am in the process of talking to several prose writers about possible adaptations of their work for the stage, plus I have a few musical theater projects in the works. And as I myself am in the process of submitting my own personal files to the Library of Congress, I have come across several plays that have sparked my interest again.

LC: Is there a common theme in your plays?
RS: I am an Asian American playwright without doubt and so that’s my territory, but over the years I have become aware of how increasingly complex that territory is, and how much more fun and sophisticated we can all be as artists and activists.

LC: Where do you see yourself in three years?
RS: In three years I will be retired from Mu Performing Arts, leaving it with a bright future, I hope. I will, of course, continue as a consulting artist to Mu, but there are so many new and exciting ideas and talented Asian American artists that I feel free to take up any challenge or project and go with it.

LC: What inspires you?
RS: Talented people and challenging situations/issues. When I encounter someone with talent I am excited to work with them and give them whatever support I can. When I encounter difficult situations, like the issue of Korean adoption and the Hmong immigration, I want to bring more attention to it through our art.

LC: What are you most passionate about?
RS: I am most passionate about the next generation of Asian American theater artists and how they will find their place in the world, not just the American, theater landscape.

Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods, reimagined and directed by Rick Shiomi. Photo by Stephen Geffre

LC: What’s on tap for the 2011-2012 Mu Performing Arts season, as the company celebrates its 20th year?
RS: We have new plays dealing with adoption (Four Destinies) and LGBTQI issues (Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them) and an Asian American re-imagining of the classic musical Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim, which I will direct. We are always looking forward and yet respecting and interpreting the past. Click here to read more about Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season.
Mu Performing Arts Website

Other Articles by Lia Chang
Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
Temple Press: Rick Shiomi recounts his tour for “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”
Mu Blog: Rick Shiomi’s Book Tour Logbook
knightarts.org: Reading on the road inside the book tour
Extended through 8/23- “In Rehearsal” Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Featuring Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, Thom Sesma as Scar in The Lion King Las Vegas
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
Photos: Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29 “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, A New Anthology of Asian American Plays Is Subject of Book Talk
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
asiancemagazine.com: New Anthology of Asian American Plays Book Talk
Portraits of New York Chinatown After 9/11 Featured in “Post 9/11”: Commemorative Display at Library of Congress Asian Reading Room, 8/30-9/15
Photos: Christine Toy Johnson, Angela Lin, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Jake Manabat, David Shih in Jen Silverman’s Crane Story at The Cherry Lane
Goodman Theatre World Premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Broadway Bound “Chinglish” Scores 5 Jeff Award Nods
H I R O S H I M A in Benefit Concert for Japan on 9/21 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in NY
Tony Award Winner Lea Salonga Leads Stellar Cast in First All-Filipino Concert for Philippine Development Foundation, “PhilDev Celebrates Broadway: Suites by Sondheim” at Alice Tully Hall on 11/7
OCA Awards Gala Photos: David Henry Hwang, Tamlyn Tomita, BD Wong, Dr. Bobby Fong & Tammy Duckworth
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.

Lia Chang: Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 20th Anniversary Season: Four Destinies, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, Into the Woods, & Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert

Photo by Michal Daniel

The 2011 – 2012 Mu Performing Arts 20th Anniversary mainstage season lineup includes two world premieres of works by Asian American playwrights: Four Destinies by Katie Hae Leo and Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them. Mu Daiko celebrates 15 years of taiko drumming in the Twin Cities with a special anniversary concert, to kick off the group’s Minnesota tour. To close out the mainstage season, Mu will present the Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods, re-imagined from an Asian American perspective.

The season kicks off on October 15 at Mixed Blood Theatre with the world premiere of Four Destinies, directed by Suzy Messerole. The play by local playwright Katie Hae Leo is a satirical exploration of adoption through the eyes of Destiny Jones, a single character represented from four different ethnic backgrounds, as she/he grows up in a Minnesota family. Leo, herself a Korean adoptee, presents herself as a character determined to embody the overarching adoptee experience, both in youth and adulthood. Four Destinies has been in development for the past two years through Mu’s Jerome New Performance Program, a platform for emerging Asian American theater voices to create and present edgy new work.

Mu Performing Arts kicks off their 20th Anniversary with Four Destinies. Photo by Stephen Geffre

In February, Mu Daiko, under the musical direction of Iris Shiraishi, returns to the Ordway’s McKnight Theatre for a special performance celebrating both the local taiko powerhouse’s 15th Anniversary and the kickoff of its Minnesota tour. Mu Daiko will honor the contribution of women in taiko by welcoming both national and international guest artists. Hanayui, a three-woman offshoot of the legendary Japanese taiko ensemble Kodo, leading American taiko artist Tiffany Tamaribuchi, and recent Minnesota transplant Megan Chao Smith, formerly of Shidara, will join Mu Daiko for the Ordway concert and tour.

Mu will next join several theaters of the National New Play Network, in the rolling world premieres of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them by A. Rey Pamatmat, directed by Randy Reyes. The gritty yet tender new drama tells the story of three children—Kenny, his friend Benji, and his little sister Edith—fending for themselves on a Midwestern farm after being all but abandoned by the adults in their lives. They are forced to face the pain and joy of growing up as their relationships evolve and the outside world encroaches on their makeshift family. Edith opens March 16 at Mixed Blood Theatre.

Mu Peforming Arts Artistic Director Rick Shiomi will direct "Into the Woods". Photo by Lia Chang

Rounding out the season, Mu dives further into its recent Asian American musical theater initiative with the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine favorite Into the Woods, helmed by Mu Performing Arts Artistic Director Rick Shiomi. After the success of Flower Drum Song and Little Shop of Horrors, Mu tackles the topsy-turvy take on classic fairytales that places Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and his beanstalk in a world where happily ever after is not what it seems. In Mu’s own twist, the costumes and staging will be re-imagined from an Asian American perspective, giving even the show’s most seasoned fans something new to enjoy. Into the Woods will open at Loring Theater on June 2.

Four Destinies
by Katie Hae Leo
directed by Suzy Messerole
October 15 – 30, 2011
Mixed Blood Theatre

Mu Daiko 15th Anniversary Concert
with guest artists Hanayui, Tiffany Tamaribuchi, and Megan Chao Smith
Musical direction of Iris Shiraishi
February 9 – 19, 2012
McKnight Theatre, The Ordway

Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them
by A. Rey Pamatmat
directed by Randy Reyes
March 16 – April 1, 2012
Mixed Blood Theatre

Into the Woods
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
book by James Lapine
directed by Rick Shiomi
June 2 – 17, 2012
Loring Theater

The Mu Performing Arts 2011-2012 season is sponsored by General Mills.
Mu Performing Arts Website

Other Articles on “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” & “In Rehearsal”
Up Close and Personal with Rick Shiomi, Award-winning Playwright & Artistic Director of Mu Performing Arts
Photos: On the town with Rick Shiomi, Co-Editor of “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, in D.C. & NY
Temple Press: Rick Shiomi recounts his tour for “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”
Mu Blog: Rick Shiomi’s Book Tour Logbook
knightarts.org: Reading on the road inside the book tour
Broadwayworld.com Photo Flash: Library of Congress’ IN REHEARSAL Exhibit
Lia Chang Theater Portfolio at Library of Congress Features Photos of Thom Sesma’s Makeup Transformation as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King Las Vegas, Robert Lee and Leon Ko’s Heading East Starring BD Wong, David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, and Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri’s Bakwas Bumbug! on View Through August 2
Photos: Rick Shiomi Checks out Performing Arts Playwrights Series in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection of Library of Congress; Attends “Asian American Plays for a New Generation” Book Signing in NY on 7/29 “Asian American Plays for a New Generation”, A New Anthology of Asian American Plays Is Subject of Book Talk
broadwayworld.com: Chinglish in Rehearsal
asiancemagazine.com: New Anthology of Asian American Plays Book Talk
Click here for the Lia Chang Articles Archive and here for the Lia Chang Photography Website.

Lia Chang Photo by Brianne Michelle Photography

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multimedia journalist.

As a photographer and videographer, Lia collaborates with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive and social media presence. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden. Lia currently plays Nurse Lia on “One Life to Live”. She has appeared in Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and “New York Undercover”.

Selections of Lia’s archive of Asian Pacific Americans in the arts, fashion, journalism, politics and space are now in the newly created LIA CHANG THEATER PORTFOLIO in the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTS COLLECTION housed in the Library of Congress Asian Division’s Asian American Pacific Islander Collection.

Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Broadwayworld.com, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, thelmagazine.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog.

All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2011 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com.