Ken Choy is an American writer of Chinese-Native Hawaiian ethnicity. He also is a performance artist and actor and owns and operates a shopping business in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Choy was the subject of a two-part series on

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

that featured his book, "Make Money Shopping," his web site
Makemoneyshopping.org
and his shopping and

mystery shopping Mystery shopping (related terms: mystery shopper, mystery consumer, mystery research, secret shopper and secret shopping and auditor) is a method used by marketing research companies and organizations that wish to measure quality of sales and s ...

business.

Theatre and activism

Upon arriving in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

, Choy immediately involved himself in the Asian American Renaissance, an Asian American arts organization. He taught classes and hosted AARGH!!, the Asian American Cabaret with poet and performance artist

David Mura David Mura (born 1952) is an American author, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and performance artist whose writings explore the themes of race, identity and history. In 2018, Mura has published a book on creative writing, ''A Stranger’s Jour ...

. In 1992, Choy toured his one-man show ''Buzz Off Butterfly'' around the country. Under the auspices of the performance group he founded, Asian Pacific American Renegades, he also directed and organized the large scale Asian American performance presentation at the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, "Miss Appropriated." He is discussed in

Dorinne K. Kondo Dorinne K. Kondo is a professor of American studies and Ethnicity and Anthropology at the University of Southern California. She is a scholar, playwright, and has over 20 years of work experience in dramaturge; her work shows the structural inequal ...

's "About Face," and Linda Frye Burnham's "High Performance" as well as David A. Schlossman's "Actors and Activists," and Deborah Wong's "Speak it Louder". In 1993, Choy, along with

Juliana Pegues Juliana Pegues is an American writer, performer and community activist living in Minnesota. Born in Taiwan and raised in Alaska, Pegues has been a member of both the women of color theater group Mama Mosaic and Mango Tribe, a national Asian Pacif ...

, staged a protest at the

Minnesota Opera Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' by Oliver ...

performance of

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

. Choy and Pegues protested inside the theater during the performance and were arrested for disorderly conduct. Although Choy was dressed in women's clothing, erroneous press accounts stated that he was naked. The two were ordered to pay a $25 fine. In 1994, Choy received $5,000 as part of the Playwright's Center Jerome Fellowship in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The program stated that he used the grant "for three months of travel and study in the Hawaiian Islands," researching and interviewing the family members and island natives, "focusing on disenfranchisement and the disappearance of island culture due to industrialization, white settlement, tourism and

environmental racism Environmental racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionally placed in communities of colour. Internationally, it is also associated with ...

." Choy founded and was co-chair of PAVE (Pan Asian Voices for Equality) and the Miss Saigon Protest Committee with Rita Nakashima Brock.

Writing

Choy is the author of the novel "My Loveable Combustible Asian American Nuclear Family" and his video blog, "From Chaos to Love: "My Loveable Combustible Asian American Nuclear Family" journey. He is the creator of the journalistic dialectic, "Living with Bill and Rob," an ongoing research project which explores the link between racism and mental illness and how those both are unflinchingly harnessed as a viable excuse for lack of human and community involvement and participation. Choy traversed those manifestations in a roommate situation with the titular subjects. His screenplay ''Lazy Susan'' won first place in the Boulder Asian Film Festival in 2005.

Festivals and conventions

Choy is the producer and founder of Breaking the Bow: The Independent Asian Pacific Islander Performing Artists and Writers Festival. The 1st festival was held October 22–25, 2009. The festival was produced by Mavericks of Asian Pacific Islander Descent (MAPID). Choy founded MAPID. Choy co-organized ID Film Fest and the Asian American Independent Features Conference with

Quentin Lee Quentin Lee (; born 1971) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian-American film writer, director, and producer. He is most notable for the television series ''Comedy InvAsian'' and feature films ''The People I've Slept With'' (2009), ''Ethan Mao'' (2004), ...

and

Koji Steven Sakai Koji Steven Sakai is an American screenwriter and producer. He has written the screenplay for '' The People I've Slept With'' (2009), a romantic comedy film directed by Quentin Lee and starring Karin Anna Cheung and Archie Kao as well as Wilson C ...

in October 2010 at the

Japanese American National Museum The is located in Los Angeles, California, and dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Japanese Americans. Founded in 1992, it is located in the Little Tokyo area near downtown. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affil ...

, continuing with his Battle of the Pitches competition along with the API TV Pilot Shootout and a Filmmaker's Crash Course. He has moderated panels at

Wondercon WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angel ...

and

Comic-Con A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book Fan (person), fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events ...

.Under the Tents Late Edition
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Notable Theater Works

* ''Charlene Chan in "Me?"'' * ''Sticky Substances'' * ''Buzz off Butterfly'' * ''Miss Appropriated'' * ''Ken Choy's Theatrical Extravaganza Lazy Susan''

References

External links

*
MAPID home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choy, Ken American performance artists American male actors American dramatists and playwrights of Chinese descent American writers of Chinese descent American gay actors American gay artists American gay writers American LGBT people of Asian descent LGBT Native Hawaiians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American LGBT dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Gay dramatists and playwrights