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

The New York Times, had a very balanced review of Fireproof: Putting Out House Fires, Reigniting Passions.

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, 7pm
Olympic 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.

Facing the Giants

To order Facing the Giants, click here.

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.

Mary remembers Jesus in his youth

I was at The Cloisters today, an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This centuries-old sculpture broke the heart of this child-less man as it brought me to contemplate a mother's grief.

A prayer for our journey

As we pulled away from the pier for Corregidor there was a prayer for our trip on the video monitor. My friend, Chris, said, "You mean they don't do that in New York on the way to Ellis Island?"

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

My agent, Dale Savidge, stayed with us while he was here to view a play partially funded by Creative Gift Foundation. He's on the board and came to check it out.

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

First trip to Hong Kong

Here are shots from our pre-Beijing visit to Hong Kong.

To see thumbnails click here.

Hong Kong

Here are shots from the second and third Hong Kong legs of the journey.

A view of two tributes

From our bedroom we can see the red, white & blue lights on the Empire State Building, and from our living room we can see the towering lights at Ground Zero.

Praying for the nation and the world on 9/11

The lotus

From Beijing '08

The lotus is a symbol of purity in the midst of an unclean world.

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

We were surprised that the clerk who checked us into our hotel in Manila was still there to check us out. She said they work 12 hour shifts for 250 pesos. That works out to about US$0.46 an hour. She said it's better than being unemployed.