TRUMBULL COUNTY Performance to highlight local talent

The daily struggles of Appalachian people are depicted in the performance.
WARREN -- The second installment of the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County and the county's Martin Luther King Dream Team's Neighbors series will be Sunday.
"Blind Horse: An Appalachian Migration" is a theater performance piece highlighting the poetry of local author Jeanne Bryner and members of the Backdoor Theatre. The free performance will be at 7 p.m. at Grace AME Church, 1137 S. Main St.
Neighbors is patterned after the Ohio Arts Council's International Music and Performing Arts in Communities Tour program. The purpose of the free concerts is to expose new audiences to art forms and artists.
The series will bring secular art performances to urban churches in the community, thereby offering common ground for members of different neighborhoods/communities to come together.
"The Neighbors series will allow the Fine Arts Council to create new partnerships in the community and build upon some that already are established," said Bobbie Brown, FACT director.
From 1940 to 1970, nearly 7 million people left the Appalachian Mountains and about 1 million of them settled in Ohio.
About the piece
In the performance art piece "Blind Horse: An Appalachian Migration," the day-to-day struggles of those families are told in story, song and drama. Under the direction of Russell Zampino, members of the Backdoor Theatre and other artists from the Youngstown-Warren area show the hardships, friendships and communal hopes of all people.
The music of Rosemary Jennings and Frank Krygowski woven throughout the performance lends grace and beauty to a barren small town landscape and the steel mill paintings of Mike Bezusko also provide a picture of the past.
The poetry for the performance comes from Bryner's 1999 book "Blind Horse." She is a graduate of the Trumbull Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and Kent State University's Honors College and has won several awards for community service, nursing and writing.
Her first collection of poems, "Breathless," was published in 1995 as part of the Wick Series by Kent State University Press. Her most recent work is a collection of short stories, "Eclipse," and a new publication is set for release in 2004.
Funding comes from the city's Community Development Block Grant, the Ohio Arts Council and the Trumbull County Martin Luther King Dream Team. The Dream Team, organized in 1993, encourages county residents to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s national holiday in meaningful ways.