Nearly 30 people gathered to celebrate the work of Jackie Warren-Moore, a beloved poet from Syracuse. Warren-Moore, who died three years ago, was Onondaga County’s first poet laureate, a freelance writer and activist. The event, the Jackie Warren-Moore Poetry and Monologue Festival, was put on by the Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company. In the audience, Mia Moore, Warren-Moore’s daughter, watched a cast of actors, singers, and spoken-word poets recite poems from Warren-Moore’s book, “Where I Come From.” “It’s inspiring, it’s amazing; I’m at a loss for words,” Moore said. “Especially to have our youth do some of my mom’s work and then to finish up with some of their own personal work, shows that there are ways to express yourself, through words, through art.” The production was directed by local playwright Anne Margaret Childress. The chosen theme for the night was community. Each of the 14 cast members recited lines from “Where I Come From” and acted out scenes that touched on themes of humanity and civility. The festival concluded with an open discussion that hoped to create a sense of community among attendees and actors. Iris St. Meran, the co-host and producer of WSYR’s Bridge Street, led the talk. Warren-Moore’s immortalized words spoke to her upbringing and lived experiences in Syracuse. Her work also served as a reflection on complex issues of racism, abuse, and the need for civility. Among the performers was Nya Jordan, Warren-Moore’s 16-year-old granddaughter, who is also a poet. She recited poems from her grandmother’s book and her own poetry. “It’s a lot of pressure. My grandmother, she had a way of moving people and the way she could deliver to an audience, it’s like the world outside is busy, but when my grandmother spoke everything just freezes,” Jordan said.”I’m grateful to call her my grandmother and perform her words.”Warren-Moore’s family has a longstanding legacy of using performing arts for activism and awareness. Moore grew up involved in the arts and is still an active member of Paul Robeson Performing Arts Company.Now, Moore and Jordan continue to keep Warren-Moore’s legacy alive through their talents. “I feel like I’m almost stuck in a time capsule. I was my daughter’s age, hearing my mother perform those words, and now, here it is, 20 to 30 years later, to hear my daughter perform those exact same words, it literally left goosebumps on me,” Moore said.  The preparation for the show started a year ago, Childress said. Cast members attended four workshops and rehearsed for countless hours to memorize their monologues scenes and poems. Childress first met Warren-Moore in the early mid-2000s while working on the set of “God’s Trombones” as her assistant director at Bethany Baptist Church. Childress went on to work with Moore in several other local productions and even worked as Moore’s publicist. “She was pro-people and pro-activism, so I think bringing her word to people is important,” Childress said.Childress wrote a monologue for Friday’s event play based on Moore’s thesis “Issues of Color” about the 15th Ward, Syracuse residents’ displacement, and lived experiences of Black and Brown communities. Many of the people Moore interviewed were used as inspiration for the festival. Karin Franklin-King, who acted in the monologue play “Issues of Color,” has participated in the festival honoring Warren-Moore each year. Franklin-King believes Warren-Moore’s work shined light on the plight of marginalized communities in Syracuse and gave voice to those facing economic hardship. “Something like this kind of galvanizes you as a community and by making it a theme of community, we were able to pull out some things to say: ‘Oh, let’s not forget, this happened to these folks. What’s happened to you? What’s going to happen if we don’t speak up?’ Those kinds of things,” said Franklin-King. “Jackie, being an activist and a writer, and really wanting to influence young people, this was a great way to incorporate all of that.”The post Arts community gathers to honor Jackie Warren-Moore’s legacy appeared first on Central Current.