668 Pine St., Bally, PA 19503 | 610-845 7364
Search
-
-
-
-
Headmaster's Message
Welcome to Saint Francis Classical's production of Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, an historic first for our new school, and one that we hope to make a Christmas tradition for years to come. The cast, crew, faculty, staff, and volunteers have been working exceedingly hard to make this show a faithful representation of Dickens' Christmas Ghost Story, and we present it to you tonight to edify your own Christmas Spirits.
G.K. Chesterton famously quipped that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing, well . . . not perfectly. Some might consider it a fool's errand to try to pull-off such an ambitious project so soon in our school's re-birth. To that I say, you're right, but that's what many probably thought when a few "foolish" MBS parishioners decided to reboot Saint Francis as an independent classical school. And look at us now! Simply put, we cannot wait to share with you this ghoulish tale of Christian redemption.
When Dickens self-published A Christmas Carol in 1843, not only was Dickens' literary career mired in a severe drought, so too was the celebration of Christmas in England, which ever since the Puritan movement had become moribund except in the small Catholic quarters of the realm. So when Dickens gambled most of his fortune on this admittedly quirky, "ghostly" tale, he was doing so in a cultural milieu which had essentially stopped celebrating Christmas. After the publication of A Christmas Carol, which sold-out instantly and went through multiple re-printings in that first year and ever since, it is said that charitable giving in England quadrupled in less than three months, and ever since, Victorian England , and later America, began to re-discover the joys of celebrating the Christmas Season (which, of course is not just one day, but twelve, culminating in the traditional festivities of Twelfth Night and then Epiphany). In that same spirit, as old Ebenezer Scrooge later observed, "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
On with the show! God bless us, everyone!
-Dr. Brake
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Director's Note
Since its publication, A Christmas Carol has become synonymous with redemption, but tonight let us instead think of humility. Humility is a necessary step on the path to redemption and for a Catholic community like Saint Francis Classical, redemption is a very tangible thing. It is alive for us in the Mass, in the sacrament of Confession, and in the very person of Jesus Christ. Some aspects of the script, staging, and sound are inspired by the Mass, and the story naturally lends itself to a Christian reading; but more to the point, we have learned through this process how theater itself can be redemptive, as its very nature demands humility.
This virtue has been practiced beautifully by the cast and crew during our rehearsals. Many of these students have stepped far outside of their comfort zones, some by memorizing more lines than they thought they could, others by trying new things on stage even when they feel embarrassed, and still others by taking on positions of great responsibility. Most impressive of all were the students who put the needs of the play, the group, and the community above their own wants.
In the theater we always say, “There are no small parts, only small actors,” but at Saint Francis we might say that “We will do small parts with great love.”
-Thalia Parr
-
