THE TIME MACHINE
Fr. Steve Ryan's Senior Theology class take on the role of thespians to explore the life of Saint John Bosco
by Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB
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To properly celebrate the Feast of Saint John Bosco, every Salesian school should have some presentation on the life of Don Bosco. For the past forty years of Salesian life, I’ve had the opportunity to write little skits and plays about Don Bosco. It’s been a hobby of mine that I’ve been blessed to bring to my assignments . The Time Machine script is one that I wrote for a summer camp many years ago.
When it came to our celebration of Don Bosco this year, I had the chance to revive the script for our students here at Shaw.
My senior Theology class has a great bunch of students. They like hands-on projects and are pretty fun and creative. When I presented a draft of the script for them (a mere seven days before the performance) they dived right in.
I suggested certain roles in the play that fit the personalities of the guys. For instance, I knew that Jehron Battiste would be a natural for the role of Don Bosco. The amazing thing is that they embraced the dramatic performance whole-heartedly and we had no problem putting together some quality practices. Mark Smith has experience in recording and enhancing sound tracks so he was in charge of the narration. Peter Nguyen is a very gifted musician and he jumped onto the keyboard to provide the musical accompaniment.
The Time Machine was not only educational, presenting the beautiful life of our patron saint, but served as practical formation for the Salesian Spirituality that we practice at Archbishop Shaw. It was well received by faculty, staff and students. Many parents and alumni were able to watch it on Facebook and on the Archbishop Shaw website.
(By the way, you can watch, too, by visiting our Facebook page.)
This is not the first production we’ve put on this year. Mr. Jason Brown, Sr., along with other faculty and staff members, worked with an exceptional group of students from both Shaw and Academy of Our Lady (our sister school) to put on a beautiful production of the Nativity. With such great acting talent amongst our students, there is hope that we can produce a few more plays this year.
We hope to share more details about our upcoming Passion play as we enter into the Lenten and Easter season and hope to invite the community to share in the great talents and passion our students have for the arts.
Fr. Steve Ryan is an ordained priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the current Head of School of Archbishop Shaw High School. Fr. Ryan was born in Staten Island, NY in 1964. He discerned his vocation from a young age after attending Camp Don Bosco in Newton, NJ. He received a M.A. in Theology from the Josephinum Pontifical College in Ohio and a M.A. in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University Chicago.
Fr. Ryan served as a teacher at Archbishop Shaw from 1986-1988 as a Brother. He was ordained a priest on May 31, 1992 at Saint Anthony Parish in Nanuet, NY. Since his ordination, he has ministered in youth ministry and served as the province Delegate for Youth Ministry.
While directing Salesian ministry in Tampa, Florida, he was part of a team that founded Cristo Rey Tampa High School. He served as the Vice Provincial of the Eastern Province for three years before being assigned to the role of Head of School at Archbishop Shaw.
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