A Dinner with the Poets on Monday, February 20th at 5pm in Faculty Lounge directly to the right of Alumni Hall’s main entrance. Their performance is on Tuesday (see poster below). Meet Jaylene Clark: [Description: Description: http://www.amateurnight.org/system/pictures/63/medium/Jaylene%20Clark-02152012.jpg?1325187587] Frederick Douglass Academy alumni Class of 2006; Ithaca College ‘10 Executive Director of Harlem KW Project, LLC Producer, Director, Playwright, Actress (Bridget) Jaylene Clark is an actress, as well a highly acclaimed spoken word poet, from Harlem, New York City. Clark received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Acting from Ithaca College in 2010. She appeared in numerous productions during her undergraduate career and also performed in productions prior to college while at the Harlem School of the Arts. Hollis Heath: [Description: Description: http://www.harlemkwproject.com/uploads/6/6/8/3/6683465/5985081.jpg] Associate Director of Harlem KW Project, LLC Co-Producer, Playwright, Actress (Toni) Hollis Heath is a New York City based actress, writer and teaching artist. Ms. Heath is a Harlem native and proud alumna of the Drama Program at LaGuardia Arts, "The Fame School". She received her Bachelors of Arts in English from The City College of New York, where she held concentrations in Theater and Creative Writing. Ms. Heath is a co-producer, co-playwright and a featured actress in the theatrical production, Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale, which just completed its second Off-Broadway run at the Time Square Arts Center. And… Janelle Heatley [Description: Description: http://images.castcall.blue-compass.com.s3.amazonaws.com/portfolio/295/295054.jpg] Associate Director of Harlem KW Project, LLC Co-Producer, Playwright, Actress (Shayla) Janelle Heatley is an actress, spoken word artist, DJ, and high school English teacher at KIPP NYC College Prep High School. Heatley received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory. And then… THE SHOW!!! [Description: Description: Description: cid:image001.jpg@01CCEAFC.B41E13F0] [Description: Description: Description: Picture] Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale began as a result of a Facebook status. Jaylene Clark<http://www.JayleneClark.com/> 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<http://alfredpreisser.com/>, who taught Clark when she attended the Harlem School of the Arts<http://www.hsanyc.org/index-new.php> 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<http://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg>. 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