Jesus Army Productions

Not to be confused with Jesus Army, an evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom.
Jesus Army Productions
Background information
Origin Barbados, West Indies
Years active 31 October 2003[1] to present

Jesus Army Productions is a performing arts company based in the Caribbean island of Barbados.[2]

Jesus Army Productions came out of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. Their mission is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in way which is comical and entertaining but that also makes you think. Over the years, "Jesus Army Productions has developed a reputation for bringing wit and humour to serious pieces, while preaching God's word."[3] "To the uninitiated, Jesus Army Productions pushes the envelope in getting its message across. The producers do not hold back on using everyday vices such as sex, lust and vanity to convey their message of salvation to the audience."[4]

The early years

In the year 2000 a young man named Rommel Hall became the Drama Coordinator of UCCF. At the time he didn't know much about the performing arts except that "drama was the ability to tell a story on stage". So with ideas in his head and Jesus by his side, Hall launched out into the dramatic realm.

With Hall at the helm, the UCCF Drama Group put on several full-length productions: "Stop, Think, Choose" – September 2001, "Living in the Real World" 8 March 2002[5] "Our Choice TV" September 2002 and "Tales From the Script" March 2003.

UCCF Drama also won a bronze award at the 2002 National Independence Festival of Creative Arts NIFCA, held in Barbados every November.

It was from UCCF Drama that Jesus Army Productions was birthed.

The Genesis

In 2004 Jesus Army Productions released an EP entitled "The Genesis". From it came the hit song "Crisis" which peaked at No. 2 for three weeks on the musical charts of Barbados' Christian radio station.

Track listing

All songs written by Rommel Hall

  1. "Genesis (Intro)" – 1:46
  2. "S.O.E.4.1.3 (Song Of Empowerment from Ephesians 4:13)" – 3:33
  3. "De War Song (Down, down, down)" – 4:46
  4. "Crisis" – 5:27
  5. "Your Holy Name (Interlude)" – 0:35
  6. "Song of Praise" – 4:07
  7. "Genesis (Outro)" – 1:39

Album Personnel

Our Choice TV: Unloaded

In July 2004, in conjunction with Christfestival, a now defunct event once held at UWI annually, Jesus Army Productions staged their first major dramatic production- "Our Choice TV: Unloaded". The production involved a series of short skits showing how the television can have adverse effects on a person's life. From within this production came the critically acclaimed "Jesus is the One" which drew a parallel between Jesus Christ and Neo of the movie The Matrix and "The Must-Have Trade Expo". The latter went on to win "Most Promising Dramatic Piece" at NIFCA 2004.[2]

Bad Friday

On 16 September 2006, Jesus Army Productions staged their second major dramatic production entitled "Bad Friday" at the Queen's College (Barbados) School Hall.[6] The production focussed on the Woodley family and their reaction to an impending disaster which would ensure the extinction of the human race. "Bad Friday" went on to win "Concert/Event of the Year"[7] at the 2007 Flame Gospel Awards, held in Barbados annually.

Trapped in an Elevator

Trapped in an Elevator is the critically acclaimed stageplay performed at the 2007 National Independence Festival of Creative Arts. "It told of the pitfalls in the lives of six people – a mother and her indisciplined daughter who was abandoned by her father; two best friends who were impregnated by the same man who turned out to be a runaway father; a man who wanted to kill himself because his marriage was called off; and the narrator who has [a] little trouble with his wife."[3] The piece, performed at the NIFCA Performing Arts Gala on Sunday 18 November 2007[8][9] received a Silver Award, The Wendell Smith Trophy for Best Directed Play and Most Promising Performance by a Community Group.

The Jesus Army Show: Five Years of Jesus Armyness

On 22 and 23 November 2008, Jesus Army Productions hosted their fifth 5th anniversary show. The show entitled The Jesus Army Show: Five Years of Jesus Armyness comprised several of their best skits from over the last five years as well as excerpts from their D.V.D. releases Trapped in An Elevator and In One Accord which were officially launched at the show.

SKITography

Full-Length productions in bold

DVD releases

In 2008 Jesus Army Productions released two DVDs. These DVDS contained some of their skits which were converted into short films and a set of new films entitled the Try-Jesus Series which took the form of commercials advertising Jesus. Each DVD also has an audio commentary for their title films as well as bloopers and an extensive Behind-the-Scenes documentary.


In One Accord


Trapped in an Elevator

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ "Corporate Affairs And Intellectual Property Office". Caipo.gov.bb. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Jesus Army Productions Christian drama leader Rommell Hall promoting Caribbean Christian dance and drama". Unitedcaribbean.com. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  3. 1 2 "The Nation Newspaper | Drama's night". Nationnews.com. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  4. ↑ The Weekend Nation (Barbados), 12 December 2008
  5. ↑ The Barbados Advocate, 15 March 2002
  6. ↑ NationNews. "NationNews – Bad Day at the Woodleys". Bararchive.bits.baseview.com. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Barbados Flame Awards 2006 featuring top Gospel musicians and artistes Rommel Jesus Army Praise Academy of Dance Image Allison Forde-Norville Sheldon Hope and Ria Greene". Unitedcaribbean.com. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  8. ↑ The Weekend Nation (Barbados), 9 November 2007
  9. ↑ "The Nation Newspaper | All that glitters at". Nationnews.com. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2011.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.