Theater Mu, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the leading Asian American arts organization in the Midwest, the second largest in the country. Theater Mu was founded in 1992 by playwright, director, and taiko artist Rick Shiomi, along with Dong-il Lee, Diane Espaldon, and Martha Johnson. Six years later, the organization changed its name to Mu Performing Arts after starting a professional taiko drumming program known as Mu Daiko. "Mu is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character Mu for the shaman-artist-warrior who connects the heavens and the earth through the tree of life."