Born in Nara Prefecture, Kumiko Ueda joined the direction division of the Takarazuka Revue after employment at an ordinary company. In 2015, she won the award for best director at the 23rd Yomiuri Theater Awards for Hoshiai Hitoyo. This work was an original play and attracted widespread support for being both thematically profound and entertaining. Nevertheless, she left the company in 2022 and became a Saison Fellow II in 2024. Besides her work for Takarazuka, she wrote Biome in 2022 and directed Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticate, a 2023 national co-production. In 2024, she founded the voluntary organization projectumï. Through it, she aspires to removal of the borders between art and entertainment, and the birth of works in which diverse people jointly address the issues of the times.