Local arts organizations continue to adapt to strange times.

Last weekend, folks could enjoy Ghost Walk, an October tradition for decades in downtown Warren, without having to worry about the forecast.

This year’s event was recorded on video so audiences could enjoy it while social distancing from the living … and the dead.

The focus primarily is on Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties. Writer-director Barbara Root effectively mixes local lore with the national issues, and includes a couple of timeless messages that would be wise to follow today. And cinematographer Allie Vugrincic (a former newspaper colleague) gives the production a stylish look on a limited budget.

One of the highlights is a 9-minute monologue by Clint Elston as an aspiring bootlegger who makes his first batch with tainted industrial alcohol and ends up becoming his first victim.

Adam Jenyk gives a colorful performance as Jimmy Munsene, who was known as the “bootleg king of Warren” for keeping people happy at Jim’s Place with “a little food, a little gambling, and little booze and a little liquor.”

It may have been illegal, Munsene said but, “I never cheated nobody, and I always took care of people.”

Ghost Walk always has been more about history than Halloween frights, and this edition is no different. But with this year’s event recorded and with most of the stories focused on a single topic, it’s easy to imagine this video — in whole or in part — becoming a valuable educational tool, something teachers could use to give a localized lesson on a subject covered in their students’ history books.

Ghost Walk is free to watch on the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County’s YouTube channel and the Trumbull County Historical Society’s website (trumbullcounty history.org), but viewers are encouraged to make a donation to either or both organizations to support their efforts.

Also premiering over the weekend was Millennial Theatre Company’s production of Jason Robert Brown’s “Songs for a New World.”

Assembling a cast from several states and Canada, the production is filled with spectacular voices, including Broadway veteran Lisa Howard, who sets a high bar with her performance of “I’m Not Afraid” early in the show.

There are a couple of shaky vocal efforts, but the overall quality is stellar.

Normally performed by two men and two women, director Joe Asente expands the cast to nearly 40 people, and music director Savannah Florkowski does an impressive job of expanding some of the arrangements for a chorus instead of a quartet.

However, the production does reveal some of the limitations of trying to capture the electricity of a live performance digitally.

The vocal performances were recorded first with the video shot later. Due to social distancing needs and budgetary constraints, that probably was a technical necessity. But it give some of the songs a music video quality, which mutes their dramatic impact.

And, at least on my TV, there were several songs where the music overwhelmed the vocals.

“Songs” was the first produced show by Jason Robert Brown, who went on to win Tony Awards for his work on “Parade” and “The Bridges of Madison County” and also penned “The Last Five Years.”

At the end of songs, MTC announces its next online production will be “The Last Five Years,” with Joshua Fleming and Rosie Bresson reprising their roles from MTC’s 2018 production at Youngstown’s Hopewell Theatre.

“Songs for a New World” will be available until the end of the year, and tickets are available online at www.showtix4u.com.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com