Warren native spent over 60 years contributing to the local arts
Karen Clark-Green grew up in Warren and started dancing with the Kenley players at Packard Music Hall at 9 years old. 65 years later, she has written and starred in numerous plays and movies, sung opera around the world and raised four kids — but it wasn't easy for her to get there. Clark-Green says she's done things she was told she couldn't do.
'I grew up in the 50s during the civil rights movement. There were a lot of opportunities that were not there for me and at that time, a lot of your white dance studios would not take a Black student,' she said.
Clark-Green started a dance and theater company called Archangel in Youngstown, giving young students opportunities she didn't have.
'I think I was the first one in Youngstown to actually pull together a multicultural dance company,' she said. 'When I had the opportunity to just see potential in little Black kids, I just wanted to create something.'
Clark-Green recently celebrated her 75th birthday with one of the oldest members of Archangel Dance. She credits growing up during the civil rights movement and watching her mother be an activist for shaping her work as an artist.
'I would not be who I am today. None of us were without the challenges, you know, that we are supposed to overcome,' she said.
Clark-Green also brought back Jazz in the Park which still happens in Youngstown every year.
She lives in Georgia now and hasn't worked in Youngstown since 2016 but says she is always open to coming back to share the arts.
Clark-Green also says she wants to organize a reunion for her dance company sometime this summer.
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