Theater Mu produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience. Theater Mu celebrates and empowers Asian Americans through theater. Theater Mu’s primary artistic values are to:

• give voice and cultural profile to the Asian American community
• offer opportunities for mainstream audiences to gain insight into and empathy for Asian American culture and heritage
• provide professional development opportunities for emerging Asian American artists
• promote awareness of and progressive action on issues of social justice and gender equality in society
• move, provoke, and challenge our audiences to understand, embrace, and celebrate diversity

Founded by Dong-il Lee, Rick Shiomi, Martha B. Johnson, and Diane Espaldon in 1992, and currently led by Interim Artistic Director Katie Bradley and Managing Director Anh Thu T. Pham, Theater Mu is an arts organization dedicated to bringing Asian American voices to the Twin Cities theater community. Over the years, Mu has grown to be one of the largest Asian American theater companies in the United States and is the largest in the Midwest. Through performance, educational, and community outreach programs, Mu provides an unparalleled resource for Asian American artists, introduces Asian American stories and issues to audiences of all backgrounds, and gives Asian Americans of all ages and ethnicities a place to connect and belong.

Jerome Foundation supports Theater Mu’s Mu Tang Clan and new play development programs. The Mu Tang Clan incubator program was conceived and led by Mellon playwright-in-residence Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay in 2021. Mu Tang Clan invites up to 10 early and mid-career Asian American playwrights with writing clinics, workshops, and public readings. Artists are paid a stipend over six months, plus additional funds to cover a professional reading of each playwrights’ new work at the end of the cohort period.