Kennen Butler is a performer-composer and storyteller born in Flint, MI, but raised in Newburgh, NY among many other places. Their cross-genre career spans musical theater and commercial music. In 2014, their self-produced debut EP Statements: Red explored the depths of their frustrations while The Story of You served as a chronological look at the rise and fall of of relationships. 2016’s HEARTBEATTHERAPY served as vulnerable self exploration and reflection. Under the name “Kennen Jakhan & the Story” they performed their original English and Japanese commercial music around Osaka and the south of Japan. Working with the American Legacy Theatre, they wrote and composed for their Home Theatre. The project centered the lives and stories of Cincinnati and the artist would write, stage, and perform a one person show virtually in 1-weeks time. The original musical Bridge City, developed through ALT’s Playwrights for Change residency, opened in Cincinnati, OH in April 2026.

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On stage, they appeared in the revival of Seussical the Musical Off-Boradway/Tour (Wickersham) directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Hairspray (u/s Seaweed), Tommy (u/s Acid Queen), Diary of a Payphone (Original Cast Recording), Aida (Mereb), Urinetown (Senator Fipp), Into the Woods (The Witch), Knock Down Drag Out (Zonna), and Songs for a New World (Man 1), Emmett (Legally Blonde) among others. They spent time as a background vocalist for acts like Toby Beau. Abroad, they served as a Creative Consultant for Universal Studios Osaka as well as being a swing for the company. They would also serve as director/choreographer for a Japanese production company called Team Utsubo where they mounted revue musicals in both English and Japanese. They worked with Paul Roberts as a singer-dancer for the show Celestial Strings. They graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston where they studied Contemporary Writing and Production with a double minor in Musical Theater Writing and Vocal Pedagogy. They’ve completed their MFA in Graduate Musical Theatre Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of Music.