First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Stages ‘I AM’ Easter Production

First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock is staging “I AM,” a 10-performance Easter production that the church describes as featuring “a cast of 500, a 50-voice choir, live musicians, animals, and special effects,” according to a promotional flier cited by Arkansas Times arts writer Daniel Grear. The production is presented in the church’s sanctuary, which Grear describes as a large, ornate space with a stone backdrop and a digital screen.

Zach Ward, the church’s director of communications, said each performance is capped at 2,000 attendees and that the shows were either sold out or close to it. Tickets were priced between $10 and $50, plus a service fee. Ward’s figures put total attendance at roughly 20,000 across the run.

The production has been performed in various forms at First Pentecostal since 2014. It is based on the Gospel of John and opens with John recording his testimony as one of Jesus’ disciples. The story then moves to the death of Lazarus, where Jesus is played by Logan Ellis. Grear reports that Lazarus emerges from the tomb amid light and smoke, and that the scene is accompanied by a live guitar solo.

Grear describes staging elements including a table that falls in slow motion when Jesus overturns it in the temple, a hologram used for Jesus’ return after the crucifixion, and a rigged ascension in which Jesus is raised into the rafters. The show also includes real camels, donkeys, horses, sheep and chickens, with a score that combines 1970s- and 1980s-influenced rock ballads with recordings by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Grear writes that the crucifixion is the most intense part of the production. He reports that a bloodied Jesus carries a large cross through the aisles of the church for about five to 10 minutes, followed by hundreds of cast members, some weeping and others calling for crucifixion. The cross is then stood upright on stage for several more minutes.

Grear wrote that the production is less preachy than he had expected. He also noted that the lobby sold commemorative merchandise, which he described as ironic given that the story centers on Jesus opposing the commercialization of the temple (Proverbs 11:1, on honest dealing).

Source: Read the original report