Theater Mu Announces 2022/23 Season Featuring Four World Premieres

To celebrate 30 years of Theater Mu, its 2022/23 season-dubbed the Pearl Anniversary season-will feature four world premieres and a conference honoring Asian American theater luminaries.

Longtime Mu artists make up part of the mainstage line-up with Katie Ka Vang's new musical Again, written with composer and lyricist Melissa Li, and Mellon Foundation playwright-in-residence Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay's world premiere of The Kung Fu Zombies Saga: Shaman Warrior & Cannibals, which takes her award-winning Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals (2013) and pairs it with her latest Kung Fu Zombies origin story, all in one show. As Mu's impact reaches far beyond Minnesota, during this milestone year, the theater is also reflecting on Asian American theater as a whole with the AAPI Generations Conference, featuring Mu co-founder Rick Shiomi, playwright David Henry Hwang, actor Amy Hill, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, and others.

Collaborations make the season even larger. In a world premiere led by Stages Theatre Company, Mu is helping produce the stage adaptation of Bao Phi's beloved
A Different Pond, and Kao Kalia Yang's The Song Poet will also be making its world premiere in a collaboration led by Minnesota Opera.

"We're deeply honored at Mu to be celebrating our 30th anniversary, featuring the work of our beloved and longtime Mu artists, and honoring the work of the artists and elders who established Asian American theater and paved the way for us," says Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal. "It's fitting that leading up to this landmark year, we were named a Regional Cultural Treasure. It's only due to the talent, commitment, and love of all who came before us and built Mu-artists, staff, board, fans, and supporters-that we're able to celebrate a vibrant and impactful 30-year history."

As with past theater seasons, the Pearl Anniversary takes inspiration from an elder in our Asian American community-Mu co-founder Rick Shiomi. In 2016, Shiomi told the National Endowment for the Arts, "My theater work came out of my community activism, and became an extension of that activism. Being Asian American, there are so many hurdles to get across in terms of creating awareness and recognition of Asian American theater, wherever you go. Those two are, for me, wedded together completely." Those words are just as vital to Theater Mu's mission today.

While Theater Mu's 2022/23 season spans genres, its themes all harken back to this idea. For instance, Again was first inspired by Vang's desire to write a personal story from a Hmong American perspective, eventually becoming a heartbreaking, irreverent, and ultimately hopeful musical about cancer survival. The Kung Fu Zombies Saga may be more fantastical, but it was inspired by Duangphouxay Vongsay's desire to see Lao culture on stage and to find new ways to talk about mental health, modern-day colonization, and overlooked war crimes. And, as the AAPI Generations Conference will undoubtedly touch on, representation onstage and behind the scenes matters in the fight for social justice.

"As Rick Shiomi and our founders intended, Theater Mu is built on three pillars-high quality art, Asian American stories, and social activism-and we will move boldly with that mission into the future," adds Tung Crystal. "Through the decades, Mu has done so much to increase representation of Asian American theater artists. Now we are focusing on nurturing those artists both onstage and backstage, including actors, directors, playwrights, designers, producers, stage managers, and dramaturgs, so that we can tell Asian American stories even more fully for the next 30 years."

Contact Lianna McLernon (lianna@theatermu.org or 612-709-3324) with any requests such as interviews, additional bios, or past production photos.

THE SEASON LINE-UP

A DIFFERENT POND

Stages Theatre Company world premiere in collaboration with Theater Mu

Sept 30 - Oct 23, 2022, at Stages Theatre Company

book by Bao Phi | adapted by Jessica Luu Pelletier

directed by Jake Sullivan

On the pre-dawn shores of a Minneapolis lake a young Vietnamese boy and his dad fish for food, unfurling a tale about immigration, straddling cultures old and new, and a family facing daily struggles together. This unforgettable story based on the Caldecott-honored book by local poet Bao Phi is perfect for all ages.

THE SONG POET

Minnesota Opera world premiere in collaboration with Theater Mu

Mar 9 - 19, 2023, at the Luminary Arts Center

music by Jocelyn Hagen | libretto by Kao Kalia Yang

directed by Rick Shiomi

In the first Hmong story adapted for opera, The Song Poet tells the story of Kao Kalia Yang's family as war drives them from the mountains of Laos to a Thai refugee camp to, finally, Minnesota. With his poetry, Yang's father inspires hope in his family, polishing their reality so that they might shine.

AGAIN

world premiere

Mar 29 - Apr 16, 2023, at Mixed Blood Theatre

book and additional lyrics by Katie Ka Vang | music and lyrics by Melissa Li

directed by Nana Dakin

Memoirist and cancer survivor Mai See meets a young filmmaker named Quest, who is inspired by Mai See's story despite suffering from her own chronic cancer. When Mai See relapses, their unlikely friendship helps Mai See understand her own life-things that are worth keeping and things that are worth letting go. Again is an irreverent, moving, heartbreaking new musical about what to do when shit gets real.

AAPI GENERATIONS CONFERENCE

May 2023, location TBA

ft. David Henry Hwang, Amy Hill, Philip Kan Gotanda, Rick Shiomi, and others

To celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, Theater Mu's 30th anniversary season, and Asian American theater as a whole, Mu is bringing some of the field's luminaries to the Twin Cities in a weekend of artist talks, exhibits, new play readings, and more.

THE KUNG FU ZOMBIES SAGA: SHAMAN WARRIOR & CANNIBALS

world premiere

July 19 - Aug 13, 2023, at the Luminary Arts Center

written by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay

directed by Lily Tung Crystal

On Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals' 10th anniversary, Theater Mu's award-winning play is back in a whole new way, as playwright Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay tailors it to be seen with the world premiere of the show's prequel. For the first act, one young woman fights to save her sister from a world gone awry with the help of the Monkey King, Hanuman, and then in Act Two, one Lao American woman journeys back to her homeland while dodging all of the apocalypse's perils. Both acts feature martial arts and a soundtrack by DJ Kool Akiem, so get ready for the adventure of the summer.

SUBSCRIPTION & TICKET INFORMATION:

Season subscriptions are available starting Monday, Aug 22, giving patrons a discount on the market price of tickets, allowing them to reserve their seats immediately, and providing access to exclusive events, Mu Merch discounts, and behind-the-scenes looks.

As Mu releases single tickets throughout the season, the theater will continue to use its Pay As You Are ticketing, which asks that audiences who can cover the fair market pricing of an event ($40) do so. If an audience member needs to pay less, they can-as little as $10 per ticket. | theatermu.org/subscribe

THEATER MU

(pronounced MOO) is one of the largest Asian American theater company in the nation and the largest in the Midwest. Founded in 1992, Mu tells stories from the heart of the Asian American experience, presenting a fusion of traditional and contemporary artistic influences, which range from classics to up-and-coming voices in our community. Theater Mu's continuing goal to celebrate and empower the Asian American community through theater is achieved through mainstage productions, emerging artist support, and educational outreach programs. Theater Mu is a member of the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists as well as a member of the Twin Cities Theatres of Color Coalition, proudly standing alongside New Native Theatre, Pangea World Theater, Penumbra Theatre, and Teatro Del Pueblo. | theatermu.org

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