From left, Glen Campbell, Lenford Salmon and Trevor Nairne, principals of Jambiz, pour over plans for an event. Missing is Patrick Brown. - Contributed photo

Collectively, they are known as the team which offers some of Jamaica's most outstanding theatrical productions, while individually, they are among the most talented artistes in Jamaica today. They are the Jambiz International four-man team of Patrick Brown, Lenford Salmon, Trevor Nairne and Glen Campbell who, from their base at Centerstage Theatre, New Kingston, have written, produced, directed and starred in no fewer than 20 original Jamaican productions over the past 11 years, including: River Bottom, Cutie and the Freak, Assistant Thief, Ras Noah and the Hawk, Cindy-Relisha and the DJ Prince and Breadfruit Kingdom.

Virtually all the productions have achieved blockbuster status - playing throughout Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, as well as the United States of America, England and Canada - as Jambiz International fulfils its mission of producing and exposing professional Jamaican theatre across the globe.

What may be less well known, however, is the skills set which the Jambiz team possesses that has allowed them to offer a broad suite of other production services to the marketplace.

Amazing

These include the production of massive cultural presentations, such as the 2007 edition of Mello-Go-Round - for which Jambiz offered a well-received themed approach - as well as the much-applauded Festival Float Parade and Grand Gala which Jambiz produced on behalf of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) for Jamaica's Independence Day celebrations on August 6. "In a very amazing way, the Float Parade and Grand Gala product is almost a perfect fit for the skills set of the members of the Jambiz team," says Lenford Salmon, well-known marketer, actor, producer, director and writer.

That skills set includes the creative writing skills and civil engineering background of Patrick Brown; the performance and communication skills of Glen Campbell; Salmon's own combined theatrical savvy and business acumen (he holds bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration); and what Salmon describes as Trevor Nairne's position as "the most creative of persons, who can dream up and implement the most incredible concepts at the drop of a hat".

In 2002, Nairne was able to put his experience to further use when he and the rest of his Jambiz team were invited to take on production of the Float Parade and Grand Gala, which were being reintroduced as part of Jamaica's milestone 40th anniversary. "We didn't feel we had enough expertise to do both, so we did only the Float Parade and received significant plaudits for that," Salmon said.

Jambiz was again invited to take on a similar task in 2006; however, as his team was approached to do so only two weeks before the event, the organisation declined.

By 2008 though, the team was ready to recreate - and perhaps surpass - the successes it had achieved in 2002. This time around, Nairne not only played a lead role in the production of the Grand Gala, but also took on the design of the socially-conscious float, 'Balancing Justice', which drew attention to social imbalances in the Jamaican society and was sponsored by the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports.

Team spirit

For his part, Patrick Brown - whose credits include serving as lead contractor on the building of the Crowne Plaza Hotel - assumed complete responsibility for building the floats. Brown also designed the spectacular 'Return to Paradise' - a float which showed what is possible for Brand Jamaica if all Jamaicans contribute to moving the country forward.

"The bedrock of our success is undoubtedly the team spirit which permeates our operations. However, outside of our main core, we were, on this particular project, also blessed to have others who came on board with a burning desire to help us make a success of the event. No praise is too high for the entire team," Salmon added.