Sunrise
It's easy to worship an Artist that paints like that!
Waking in WI
The air's a little crisper here, the leaves are certainly more beautiful, and it's great to be among a people ready to worship!
Fireproof still in top 10 after 3 weekends
I was delighted to see Fireproof stay in the top ten at the box office for it's third week. Their $500k investment has now made almost $17M.
A particularly nice view
Christened by Eric Liddell
The Daily Record, a British publication, just ran an article on a woman who was christened by Eric Liddell in a kitchen of the internment where she spent her first three years: 'Scots Olympic great Eric Liddell helped me survive concentration camp horror'.
The New York Times had good things to say about Fireproof
Today the front page of their Arts section ran an article on how well it's doing: It’s a Healthy Marriage of Faith and Filmmaking.
Olympic Hero in China
November 14, 7pmOlympic Hero in China:
The Eric Liddell Story
World Premiere of English narration by Rich Swingle
Followed by slides from our 22,400 miles in 36 days with 40 audiences, 5 nations of Asia surrounding the Beijing Olympics.
The Ellington Room
Manhattan Plaza
400 W 43rd St
NYC
No charge; no donations allowed.
The documentary will also be screened on November 20 at our home church, Westchester Chapel. We'll have a free dinner at 6:30, and we'll start the documentary after 7pm.
I've already given the slide show about our trip to Asia at Westchester Chapel, so if you missed it, be sure to come to the New York showing.
See Fireproof!
Wow! Amazing!
Variety called it "The biggest surprise" of the week.
In their first seven days they made $8.4M. That put them at a respectable #4 at the B.O., but with $10,039 per theatre they were less than $500/screen off of #1 for that category. Not bad for a $500k budget!
If you've got a good marriage this film will inspire you to make it better. If you're engaged or newly married you've got to see this film. If your marriage isn't as good as you want it to be you MUST see this film. If you're a teenager this film will give you a vision of how to build a solid marriage.
But Fireproof isn't just a theatrical marriage seminar. It's entertaining! For a cast made up mostly of amateurs this is truly remarkable film making. The makers of Facing the Giants are improving on their craft. The car on the track scene (I'm not giving too much away since it's glimpsed in the trailer) is so gripping because you know they didn't have the budget for CGI (which the credits confirmed). Our theatre on Times Square was packed, and people laughed so loud at the humor I've got to see it again because I missed so many lines! And on the other side of things I was moved to tears again and again.
Were there some holes? For what they paid and the experience they had you have to expect that. Was it an enjoyable, entertaining film. Absolutely!
See it soon to cast your vote for more films like it.
Variety called it "The biggest surprise" of the week.
In their first seven days they made $8.4M. That put them at a respectable #4 at the B.O., but with $10,039 per theatre they were less than $500/screen off of #1 for that category. Not bad for a $500k budget!
If you've got a good marriage this film will inspire you to make it better. If you're engaged or newly married you've got to see this film. If your marriage isn't as good as you want it to be you MUST see this film. If you're a teenager this film will give you a vision of how to build a solid marriage.
But Fireproof isn't just a theatrical marriage seminar. It's entertaining! For a cast made up mostly of amateurs this is truly remarkable film making. The makers of Facing the Giants are improving on their craft. The car on the track scene (I'm not giving too much away since it's glimpsed in the trailer) is so gripping because you know they didn't have the budget for CGI (which the credits confirmed). Our theatre on Times Square was packed, and people laughed so loud at the humor I've got to see it again because I missed so many lines! And on the other side of things I was moved to tears again and again.
Were there some holes? For what they paid and the experience they had you have to expect that. Was it an enjoyable, entertaining film. Absolutely!
See it soon to cast your vote for more films like it.
MWF08 - Theatre
Thanks to Stephanie Terranova we now have shots from the MWF '08 Theatre program and production of Tartuffe online. Click here.
Favorites On and Off-Broadway
I've wanted to see Blue Man Group all 15 years I've lived here, and they didn't disappoint. Though they only opened their mouths to eat there was a wealth of lessons for actors:1. Listen to each other. at least one of the actors we saw has been doing this show for 16 years, but it felt as fresh as if they were making their discoveries for the first time.
2. It's not about words. Words only make up 7% of communication, and these guys were communicating volumes. Most intriguing was how they expressed their relationships to each other and to the audience.
3. Be as big as you need to be. Their whole schtick is based on subtlety, but when they need to be big, they don't hold back! Their energy is stupendous!
Another standout was A Man for All Seasons. Our friend, David Lander, who designed lights for Fire Off-Broadway (my NYC run with Roger Nelson) lit this Roundabout production brilliantly...so to speak. It was so encouraging to see Broadway explore a man literally laying down his life for his beliefs. Frank Langella plays Sir Thomas More, who served as Henry VIII's chancellor, but resigned when Henry made himself the head of the church in England so he could annul his marriage.
My favorite theatrical hours of late were spent at the new musical, A Tale of Two Cities. While creating our documentary on Eric Liddell (details will be announced soon for our Western Hemisphere debut) we discovered that Liddell was memorizing the last three chapters of Dickens' masterpiece. It truly is worth meditating on the story of a man giving his life for another. The whole cast was great, but James Barbour, who played Sydney Carton, was extraordinary. Right from the start he was making choices that were absolutely captivating.
Inside Out (Everlasting)
I was singing this all last week, so when it came up again this Sunday I just had to download it. Enjoy.
The track that isn't listed as "Album Version" was recorded live, so you can hear thousands singing along.
The track that isn't listed as "Album Version" was recorded live, so you can hear thousands singing along.
Mary remembers Jesus in his youth
A prayer for our journey
Tonight's menu
Tonite's Menu for our Asian presentation:
Edamame
Scallion Pancakes
Sesame Chicken w/ Broccoli
Kung Pao Shrimp
Vegetable & Egg Fried Rice
Beef Lo Mein
Thanks Ava!
Visited by Dale
Telling the story of our Asia tour
 |
| From Beijing '08 |
This Thursday night, September 18, we'll be sharing out our trip to Asia surrounding the Beijing Olympics. Here are the stats:
22,400 miles
5 nations
4 language translations
36 days
40 audiences
1 hour to tell all about it
Thursday, September 18
6:30 free Chinese food
7ish slide show begins
214 Central Ave
White Plains, NY
http://WestchesterChapel.org
Directions from NYC: http://RichDrama.com/WCCC/NYC
A view of two tributes
Chung Gwo Jiao!
 |
| From Beijing '08 |
This is on the Olympic plaza, quite near the Birds Nest Stadium and the Aquatic centre. My flag says "Chung Gwo Jiao!" It translates literally to "China, refuel!" but is used like, "Go China!" The stadium shook with "Chung Gwo Jiao!" when one of their athletes was competing. The shirt says, "Wao aye Chung Gwo" or I love China. The shirts were produced after the Sichuan earthquakes to raise awareness and support for the recovery process.
Priceless service
Purpose driven police
The Chief of Police here, Gen. Avelino Razon, gave his life to the Lord, and he's now requiring that every police officer in the city goes through The Forty Days of Purpose, based on Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life.
He pointed out that, though this is the only Catholic nation in Asia, corruption and immorality are rampant because the focus has been on the forgiveness of God. He challenged the thousands to consider that He is also a God of justice.
Another member helped establish Christmas as a national holiday in Nepal!
The pastor pointed out that every two seconds someone in the world dies. He urged us to do all we can to help them know how to live beyond the grave.
He quoted Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Someone told him he was praying God would be on Lincoln's side. Lincoln said God is always on the side of the right. We need to pray that we're on God's side.
a YMCA destroyed by the Japanese
"I have a job to do"
"We speak American," he said in light of US colonization in 1898 after 300 years of Spaniish control. They didn't gain their independence until after WWII.
He said the Spanish legacy is religion. They are the only Catholic nation in Asia. He said the US legacy is language...and Coka-Cola.
Back from Beijing
 |
| From Beijing '08 |
I'm now in Hong Kong, and Joyce and Ava are safely back in New York. We had an AMAZING time.
We had our tickets ripped up just before we stepped onto the plane. Before we totally freaked out they printed new boarding passes, which put us in first class! Hurrah! That came in seriously handy as we waited on the tarmac in Guangzhou, where I'd run a race when I was in high school. There was a typhoon ripping through Hong Kong, so what could we do but enjoy the extra services. We did pray that I could make my performance and screening of Olympic Hero in China: The Eric Liddell Story, and that prayer was answered. I told the audience that night that the Lord clearly had something for them to hear since he calmed the storm just in time.
Here's my China album: Beijing '08
We Are Ready
This was the theme song for the countdown to the Olympics, and the same composer is working on the soundtrack for our upcoming docudrama about Eric Liddell.
Out of 90,000 seats
The fellow sitting in front of me at the Beijing Olympics was working his iPhone, so I asked him how it was working in China. He said great, and we struck up a conversation. We asked each other where the other was from, and when he heard I was from Southern Oregon he said that his friend's wife had gone to high school in that area. She was at the concession stand, but when she returned I expected her to tell me she'd graduated from one of the bigger schools in the area. Turns out, she graduated from mine: Phoenix High School, Phoenix, Oregon. She had graduated three years behind me, and she had seen my brother, Bob, at her brother, Carl Leeser's wedding three months earlier.
In a nation of 1.2 billion people, a city of 15 million and a stadium with 90,000 seats it was a blessing to make such a connection.
It had been arranged for me to perform in the Olympic Village for some athletes that day, but the night before a dignitary flew to Beijing unexpectedly and needed the pass I was going to use. This meeting felt like a gift and totally took the sting out of the disappointment!
Moving to NYC
I'm often asked for advice from young actors about moving to New York City. In today's New York Times there's an article about the process: Finding Your First Apartment.Here are some other pieces of advice:
Sign up at Manhattan Plaza now. It offers subsidized housing for those who make at least 50% of their income from the performing arts. Joyce and I were on the list for 10 years before getting in. Don't worry if you don't make half of your income from the arts now. They won't ask you to prove it until you work your way pretty far up on the list. For me it was four years.
There are often apartment and roommate leads in Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Classifieds.
I recommend you leave your car behind and use Zipcar.
My main piece of advice is to find a great church home. Without one your chances of staying true to the Lord and your convictions will be greatly challenged in NYC or any major city...or anywhere.
Redeemer Presbyterian Church has an Art's Ministry.
Actors InC (ActorsInChrist.com) is a great fellowship that meets Monday nights (the dark night for most theatres). They offer free acting workshops, and they've even been known to offer free headshot sessions. It's not really a church since they don't have a pastor and sermons, but they do open and close with prayer and have a Bible study. It's a great place to get connected with other Christian artists. I spoke on a panel they hosted, which is available online.
Our church, Westchester Chapel, is just outside the city, but Joyce and I have been reverse commuting since 1998 because it's such a great (and quite artistically minded) family.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you know of a great fellowship I've left out, please post a comment below and leave a link.
Olympic Gold Medalist
On our day at the Bird's Nest Stadium we sat two rows behind Dutch fans. We told them congratulations because we'd watched their team win gold in water polo while getting ready to leave early that morning. They informed us that the game had actually been played the day before. So not only did the CCTVs (China has I think seven state-run channels) show the Olympics on practically every channel, they showed them practically around the clock.
Can we have a picture with you?
In the countryside
Touring Macao
MasterWorks Macao
Charmaine said how much she missed MWF ( http://MasterWorksFestival.org ) this year and how it grounds her.
Charmaine, in recounting MWF '08, I forgot to tell you that Steve Rooks choreographed a Tango as a part of the theatre department's production of Tartuffe. It was hilarious (as was the plan)!
Soon after arriving here Charmaine was promoted to a position in which she hires and trains performers for all the Sands properties in Macao (which are quite numerous). We're Hoping for continued stamina for her!
More Filipinos
Heading for Macao
Tonight we're going to present our documentary, Olympic Hero in China: The Story of Eric Liddell, and afterward I'll speak.
Busiest/densest
We're not overly concerned as we take a ferry to a nearby beach.
The CA of YMCA
Chuck Allison, director of several YMCAs here in Hong Kong, introduced himself to the kids of the sports camp as the CA of the YMCA!
Opening Day
 |
| From Hong Kong '08 |
On opening day of the Olympics I performed Beyond the Chariots for a sports camp for the YMCA.
A profound evening
 |
On the second night of the Olympics I performed Beyond the Chariots here in Hong Kong. Afterward H. K. Cheng (far right) told what Eric Liddell was like as one of his instructors at the Tientsin Anglo-Chinese College and Rev. Jim Hudson Taylor, great grandson of Hudson Taylor (next to his wife, Leone) told how Eric Liddell helped him and other kids in the Japanese internment camp in Weihsien, China.
Standing in the center are Chuck Allison, director of several YMCAs here in Hong Kong, and our friend Steve Wible, who's been a great connector for us here.
 |
| From Hong Kong '08 |
I've posted more photos to our album, including shots from our time on the streets of Hong Kong with our Filipino friends: click here.
a door closed, a Way opened
Yesterday I found out that my speaking engagements in the two morning services were cancelled. We were disappointed, but over breakfast with the director of the Hong Kong YMCAs, he told us...we should perform for the Filipinos on the public squares!
So we went to the Filipino fellowship and told them what the director had said and asked if they had any ideas. Turns out the teacher of the fellowship had been Hoping for a surprise. So I performed "The People J Knew". There was a woman there for the first time, and she decided she wanted to Know J! Yay! Then we had lunch with the fellowship.
Fortified with Filipino fare, we went to the streets, where I performed "The People J Knew" in four different locations.We had such a wonderful time!
Filipino friends, on 24 August I'll be back to perform my play (www.RichDrama.com/BeyondTheChariots) and then teach you some dramas we can do on the streets! See you then!
Filled with Hope,
Rich and Joyce
Note from August 27, 2020:
I was telling this story at the Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in the Philippines, and one of the students said that she was on the streets of Hong Kong in 2002, when I was praying for the Filipinos. She said she was struggling with what to do with God, and there she sat in seminary, six years later!
The Games are Open
As you watch, may it prompt your heart to Hope for all the Father's best for these amazing people.
An Olympic day!
Amor directed the documentary about Eric Liddell, and he will direct me as Eric when we film the dramatizations in the fall: http://RichDrama.com/Olympics
Now, after some dim sum, I'm going to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics...on TV.
Survived the typhoon
Yes, I'm safe, and the typhoon cancelled my first engagement, which actually helped me adjust to this time zone in a bit more leisurely fashion. I was doing fine all day, and then at 8pm it hit me and lo, I was dead to the world. That's about the time I would have been engaged in conversation after my presentation. Whew!
Filled with Hope,
Rich
On Aug 6, 2008, at 7:46 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Olympic Hero in China: The Eric Liddell Story":
Rich, I just saw on the news about the tropical storm hitting Hong Kong. Are you safe?
-Brandon
Posted by Anonymous to The Swingles' Dramatic Developments at 7:46 PM
Olympic Hero in China: The Eric Liddell Story
 |
| From Hong Kong '08 |
Though our dramatizations won't be completed until the fall due to
the difficulty of film permits during and immediately after the
Olympics, Good News Communication completed our documentary about Eric Liddell.
I'm staying at the YMCA of Hong Kong, where I'll perform my play
about him Friday and Saturday and answer questions in the role of
Eric Liddell on Sunday morning for ECCHK. The
documentary is playing on a continuous loop in the lobby. I stood
there the solid 45 minutes, captivated. They've done such a
tremendous job putting it all together. It is truly geared to reach
the Chinese people.
That's not smog
 |
| From Hong Kong '08 |
A typhoon hit this area just before I landed, so it's sort of working its way to calm this morning.
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