SPOKEN WORD ARTIST:

JAYLENE CLARK OWENS

Jaylene Clark Owens is a Philly resident from Harlem, NY. She is a highly acclaimed poet, as well as an AUDELCO and Barrymore Award winning actress. She is the author of “AfroPoetic,” her debut collection of poetry, now available on Amazon. She fell in love with spoken word poetry in 2005 when she was on the 1st Place Urban Word New York Team at the International Brave New Voices Poetry Slam. Her poetry has taken her to some of the biggest stages, including the Apollo Theater where she won first place in the Amateur Night competition. She is proudly an alum of the prestigious theatre-in-verse #BARS Workshop at the Public Theater, led by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. Jaylene’s poetry is powerful, engaging, and her performance combines elements of her background as a professional actress. Her acting abilities earned her a place in The Wilma Theater’s resident acting company, HotHouse. As a firm believer in creating your own opportunities, Jaylene is the Executive Director of Harlem KW Project, LLC, the theatrical company she founded with three other women to create the play, “Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale.” It is a spoken word poetry infused play about gentrification in Harlem. Jaylene has toured to over 20 schools across the country performing in this AUDELCO-award winning production. In addition to performing spoken word, she is also a teaching artist. She has taught several poetry writing workshops with students ranging from second grade to adults. For more information, visit JayleneClarkOwens.com.