THE National Arena in Kingston is a beehive of activitity on the night Splash popped in for a sneak peak at the rehearsals for Father Richard Ho Lung’s latest theatrical production, Acts of the Apostles, to raise funds for his Missionaries of the Poor charities.

Everywhere throughout the Arena’s floor there is activity — everyone diligently carry out their assigned tasks to ensure that the production, a Caribbean opera, make the best possible showing at opening this weekend.

As you enter, volunteers are seeing to the physical layout of the arena, carrying barriers and arranging chairs; dancers are on stage blocking their choreography and checking for markers on the huge, imposing multi-level stage, which arrests your attention once you step into the hall. Set designers are also feverishly adding last-minute touches to the stage.

The buzz inside the Arena is constant. The sound and lighting team are also doing their set up and adjustments — flickering lights, squeaking microphones all form part of the ambience.

Slowly the seating arrangements inside the Arena begin to take shape thanks to the diligent work of the surplice-clad brothers of the Missionaires of the Poor who work tirelessly to achieve their goal. The various nationalities, ethnicities, accents and dialects bring to mind a mini United Nations, with everyone carrying out their duties — like the apostles, carrying out their acts.

The rehearsal soon moves into high gear and one is struck by the richness of the music, composed by Wynton Williams, the intricacy of Paula Shaw’s choreography, all of which add life and colour to Ho Lung’s dramatic script.

Director Greg Thames, with the guidance of Ho Long, supervises and tweaks the production to ensure that only the best makes it to the stage for the next two weekends.

Ho Lung sees Acts of the Apostles as the “greatest and our best,” at all times acknowledging the guidance of the Almighty, “God is the great artiste. He is the one who inspired the Gospel writing and our adaption of it into an opera. This God is the one who inspires Wynton Williams and myself to compose the music. He is the one who moved the pen as I wrote the script. He is in the mind of Greg Thames as he directs. He is in the imagination of PJ Stewart as she constructs the set design. He is in the eyes of Robin Baston as he designs the light. He is in the hands and feet of Paula Shaw as she moves our performers in the choreography. He is in the paint brush of Denise Robinson as she designs the costumes, and He is in the heart of the amazing singers and dancers as they perform the production,” the popular Catholic priest notes.

He adds, “people ask, ‘how can Father Ho Lung and Friends present such mega production at the arena’. I have never seen anything like this in my life.” There are concerts but then there are theatre productions, dramatic theatre that tell the life story of people, elevating humanity before the eyes of people who see characters who are like themselves struggling through life, facing conflicts and rising above momentous difficulties.”