Sachie Mikawa (she/her) weaves storytelling, musical composition, and curated live performance events into a distinctive artistic practice that defies categorization. Born in Sendai, Japan, and trained in the United States, she has spent the past two decades creating original works across theatre, circus, and cabaret—amplifying voices too often left unheard.

As a performer and deviser, Sachie creates genre-defying work that has taken her across four continents. Her practice merges the precision of Japanese aesthetics, the avant-garde impulse of American experimental theatre and the anarchic joy of Australian performance. The Scotsman called her an “idiosyncratic genius,” and in 2014, her work with her partner Trent H Baumann, The Birdmann and Egg, was shortlisted for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality at the Edinburgh Fringe—an honour that reflects her commitment to breaking molds rather than echoing convention.

As a musical composer, Sachie writes across a rich tapestry of genres and styles, aiming to create soundscapes that are thematically coherent for each production. Her compositions, primarily written for performances and films, range from delicate melodic solo piano to lush orchestrations to raw, noise-driven sound experiments.

As the producer of Monfu, she is a fierce advocate for inclusive, independent and empowered storytelling. Alongside co-producer Trent H Baumann, she created SOAPBOX—Aotearoa’s only open-mic dedicated to women and non-binary performing artists off all disciplines—and its cabaret offshoot SOAPBOX Deluxe and festival lineup show SOAPBOX Spectacular. With intention and care, Sachie cultivates safe, supportive spaces where artists can be unapologetically true to themselves.