Shiomi, Rick Allan

Rick Shiomi was born in Toronto on May 25, 1947. He is a sansei playwright, stage director, artistic director, and taiko artist. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Toronto, then later received a teaching diploma from Simon Fraser University.

He is often considered a leader of the early Asian Canadian theatre movement of the 1980s. Through the 1970s in Vancouver, Shiomi worked with the Powell Street Festival and Japanese Canadian redress movement, crediting this period as the influence for his early works as a playwright. His most notable play is the award-winning Yellow Fever, which has been produced across North America and in Japan. The play premiered in 1982 in San Francisco with the Asian American Theater Company; it is recognized as the first Asian Canadian play professionally produced in Canada.

Shiomi relocated to Minnesota in the 1990s and co-founded Mu Performing Arts, the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists (CAATA), and the taiko group Mu Daiko. While writing over twenty plays over his career, Shiomi shifted from playwriting to directing, staging over forty productions for theatre companies across North America. Shiomi has received numerous awards for his work, including the McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist Award (2015). He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he serves as co-artistic director of Full Circle Theater Company, which has a multicultural, multiracial mandate.

Created by Alston So, March 2026.