Once on This Island: As Told by the Gods…A JamPAC Entertainment Production

They brought you the Philly Sounds Show in conjunction with the Miller Outdoor Theater,

and The Community Music Center of Houston.

They brought you Little Shop of Horrors, Tree: A Neo Opera, The Princess and the Frog, and many other productions with an H- Town Twist!

They keep Houston jamming all around town through various events!

Who are they? I am talking about the H-Town Orchestra, Opera, and Theater Company through JamPAC Entertainment! They have done it yet again, kicking off summer solstice the right way with Once on This Island: As told by the Gods! It was done on a Jupiter-ruled Thursday, June 27^th 2024 at HCC’s Heinien Theater.

Once on this Island is a Carribean inspired version of The Little Mermaid, based on the novel My Love, My Guy/A Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy. However, the ending to this story is a bit more grim than the popular Disney tale. It is the love story of an orphaned peasant girl named Ti Moune. She falls in love with a wealthy boy named Daniel, after she uses her healing and her love to save his life. She becomes his lover, for a while, but it all ends in betrayal because the Daniel was already intended to a woman of his higher social class.

The story takes place on a Carribean Island, where nature-based faiths are common practice. Nature based faiths are a way of life that aligns we humans with our highest destinies. If we live in divine alignment and harmony, blessings are in tow. If we live in violation of divine balance, dire consequences are in tow. We connect with the God within through interactions, choices, and lessons from the “gods.” In the play’s setting, the Hatian Vodou gods are appeased to keep peace, harmony, and balance, especially for those who could not put faith in wealth. In nature based faiths, it is believed that the “gods” are honored because The Most High God, in all of totality, is too intense for humans to directly engage. The “gods” are the bridge between humans and the Most High God, interacting with us humans through various aspects of nature. They are personified by their divine purpose, and divided between masculine and feminine characteristics. The “gods” serve the Most High God through their assignments to guide, bless, and test human will. Internally, the “gods” represent aspects of ourselves that need balance. The “gods,” or the angels, orchestrate circumstances that test our characters, yet give us choices. The “gods” are agents of the Most High God, and a constant reminder of God’s versatility.

The four gods depicted in Once on this Island are Agwe, the god of the sea, Erzulie (Freda), the goddess of love, Asaka, the Mother Earth Spirit, and Papa Ge, the keeper of choices, and the spirit of death.

iiiYansaje T. Muse as Erzulie, Antonia Adams as Asaka, and Bruce Parhams as Agwe. Good Times!

Ti Moune’s destiny was a wager between Papa Ge and Erzulie on whether love can conquer death. They influenced Ti Moune’s chain of events…perhaps to prove their own points. Agwe set up the stormy scenario that collided the very different worlds of Ti Moune and Daniel. Asaka provided all Ti Moune needed to take her journey in love. Erzulie orchestrated the love to flow between Ti Moune and Daniel. Papa Ge presents Ti Moune with the choice to kill the man who betrayed her to free her heart of the pain. Ti Moune apparently had lessons to learn about making certain pacts with gods, while her village had one to learn about love on the level of self sacrifice.

So, how did JamPAC Entertainment take a story so deep, and still make it lively, funky, with their signature H-Town twist? This version of Once on This Island: As told by the Gods! excluded all human characters, creating a one-on-one storytime and reggae jam session between the “gods” and the audience! In this flavorful depiction, the “gods” tell the story of Ti Moune from their point of view, as a story pulled from their endless archives of interactions with humans.

In this show’s run, Agwe was played by Bruce Parham,

Papa Ge was played by Vivian Mosely,

Asaka was played by Antonia Adams,

and Erzulie was played by Moi!

Henry Mosely was on percussion, and Norman Thomas on flute ans sax!

Behind the spiritual curtain, there was an 888 essence on the stage, with a moon-child on the keys! Antonia, Bruce, and myself are all born in the month of August…and isn’t 2024 an 8 year?!

While the gods are loosely depicted in the play, they are aligned enough to open a dialogue for a deeper understanding of the “gods,” their functions in nature based traditions, and their interactions with the human characters! In their oldest depictions, the “gods” are known as the Orisa (OH-REE-SHUH). As an Orisa priestess of Oya(transformations, changes, wisdom), I HAD to shed a bit more light on the spiritual meanings of the gods depicted in Once on this Island, and the correlations between their older Orisa representations!

Two paragraphs up, there are links attached to the names of the “gods.” Click them to learn more about them, and see more photos from this production! I’d like to thank JamPAC Entertainment for allowing me to use this production to bring more awareness to its subject matter.

Make sure you check out https://jampacentertainment.com/ for more information about booking, past productions, and future projects!