Jana Lynne (JL) Umipig is an Ilokano born in Honolulu, HI and is currently residing in the Bronx, NY.

Jana Lynne received her Master’s from NYU’s, Steinhardt Educational Theatre Program, and received her BA in Theatre and Humanities with a concentration in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine.  She additionally studied intensive Physical Theatre work at the Accademia dell' Arte in Arrezo, Italy. She has worked with different community organizations developing curricula and programs that integrate theatre and visual arts with activism, leadership development, and holistic upliftment of body, mind and spirit. In the beginning of her works with youth Jana Lynne worked primarily with youth in juvenile detention, rehabilitation and support group centers throughout NYC focusing on using the arts for expressive healing and empowerment through storytelling.

 

She is the founder of the youth theatre troupe For the Movement Theatre Collective at El Puente Williamsburg Leadership Center where she has facilitated, directed and organized the Arts for social justice program for 4 years. She also is a certified Empowerment Trainer and a founding member of the the Global Justice Institute.

 

At the core of all her work has dedicated her living to becoming an instrument of her cultural roots as a Pinay through artistic expression and movement. She is the creator of the experimental Theatre Movement- The Journey of a Brown Girl, which is a living work of artistry that is testament to JL's years devoted to the preservation and celebration of stories from her communities and her peoples. She hopes to activate and be activated by art that is centered in Pilipino presence, experience and living connected to belief in the power of the arts to activate and move the human spirit for individual and community empowerment and transformation. She creates with intention to connect human experience and spirit between all communities.