The Afro-American Society Presents…

Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale began as a result of a Facebook status. Jaylene Clark randomly posted a poetic Facebook status about wanting to jump back into the spoken word world after being on somewhat of a break while in college. It read, "It's time to stop dipping a toe in here/ Wading in a little bit there/I need to jump back into this Sea World of poetry like I'm Shamu/ Heavy/ Too much gentrification going on in Harlem to get light/ Time to spit killer lines, with killer rhymes, of killer tales/ Cuz Harlem is looking more and more like the belly of a killer whale." Alfred Preisser, who taught Clark when she attended the Harlem School of the Arts College Prep Theatre Program, saw the status and asked her if she could create an entire show based on killer whale/gentrification metaphor that would incorporate theatre and spoken word for his play reading series at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Clark, who always wanted to create a show that blended her two loves of theatre and poetry, jumped on the opportunity. She contacted Hollis Heath, who has been her best friend since they were four years old, and Janelle Heatley, her former Harlem School of the Arts classmate, to be her cast mates. Clark also contacted one of her other best friends, Chyann Sapp, to help with the writing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6isJd5YWmDo