Ken Yoshikawa is a shin-issei/first generation half-Japanese American poet-actor from Portland, OR. He has been active in the Portland Poetry Slam community since 2014. In his theatre career he’s appeared at the Portland Center Stage in Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles, and at the Portland Playhouse in You for Me for You. Some notable roles include Arjun in Chitra, the Girl Prince, (NW Children’s Theatre), Chimney Sweep/Ensemble in Mary Poppins (NW Children’s Theatre), and Malvolio/Antonio in Twelfth Night (Oregon Adventure Theatre).
Most recently he played H in Grit, a one-act show that toured Washington State middle and high-schools educating youth about Japanese Incarceration. Ken graduated from Reed College with a B.A in Theatre Arts. He recently released his first spoken word album Quiver. Currently he is working on a full length book of poetry and on an autobiographical poetic solo play called The Art of Fly Swatting. He loves blue chicken taco trees and resents punctuation and grammar at his convenience.
