Teaching and performing in Cuba

In twelve hours we'll leave for Cuba to teach, perform and encourage the people! 

I've been invited to teach three workshops at a Bible school and train young people how to do enacted prayer and how to create their own sketches through improvisation. On the last night they'll perform a brand new sketch just before I perform Views of the Manger with Spanish translation slides, which were just finished a couple of nights ago. ¡Mil gracias, ayudantes!

We've been amazed at the Lord's timing related to this trip.  In the aftermath of Fidel Castro's death, the government called for a moratorium on any special events at churches. We believe the ban has now ended, but we appreciate your prayers for a smooth journey and smooth events!

When we prayed about whether we should accept the invitation, we sensed the Lord urging us to go and encourage the people there with the Love of our Lord and the Good News that they are not forgotten but were bought with a Price. We pray we can bring the Precious Scripture to Life in their minds and hearts through the play and workshops. Pray they hear and understand All the Lord has for them, and that Joy, unspeakable Joy will be the hallmark of the trip!

Our local hosts are not able to cover our travel expenses, so if you're able to help, please do so at www.RichDrama.com/Donate. 

Thanks so much for your prayer and assistance!

In Christ alone,

Rich and Joyce Swingle

One film now, another on the way

Our poster was miraculously in the main
lobby of AMC Empire. It could have gone
anywhere in the labyrinth of 25 screens.

I played the adult male lead role of Mitchell Little in the modern silent film, Providence, which had a limited nationwide theatrical release through AMC Independent and opened Valentine's Weekend. I tried to stay on top of the reviews at the bottom of www.RichDrama.com/Providence.

One of the venues in February was the historical AMC Empire Theatre on Times Square. Click here to see how that was an answer to an eight-year prayer.

Providence is now beginning to roll out across the land, and you can schedule a screening in your area.

It will be available on DVD and digital download starting May 24, but you can pre-order now.

I helped create a promotional video at
the Christian Worldview Film Festival.

I was cast as the lead in the short film "A Matter of Perspective," which will be filmed in beautiful Southern Oregon, where I was born and raised. I'll get to stay on our family farm while we're filming! 

This is such an answer to prayer, since that was the area where I was inspired to act by seeing plays produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, taking part in workshops with their actors, and performing at our high school and with our church's youth group. 

That church, Medford Friends Church, is hosting Providence while I'm in the area, on June 24 at 6:30pm. 

My connection to the filmmakers of "A Matter of Perspective" is miraculous! We met at the Family Camp for the Southern Oregon chapter of Joni and Friends. To see how that came about visit www.RichDrama.com/Joni. Then we found out that the director, Mike Hill, was a student of Larry Smith, who has been a good friend of my father since they were in the third grade! Larry gave me my only photography lesson just before I went to Hong Kong. Then he helped me set up the slides that I showed to the many families and organizations that made the trip possible.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Lord does through this short film! 

We're lining up a number of people and resources to make "A Matter of Perspective" happen. Visit AMatterOfPerspective.us and wherever you live please visit our IndieGoGo site and pray about helping. 

If you live in Southern Oregon and didn't get an email with specific requests, please send me a note through the form at the bottom of this page. 

I'm in a Film Opening on Times Square

I play a lead in Providence, a modern silent film opening in theatres coast to coast starting February 12.

When Joyce and I first moved to Midtown Manhattan in 2008 I was coming down this escalator the first time we saw a movie at the AMC Empire 25, and I said a prayer that one day I'd be coming down the same escalators having seen a film in which I'd performed. 

Maybe I was prompted to pray that night because I had been at the grand opening of the theatre in 2000. The gala was a benefit for a few Times Square charities including The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene, where I had been an intern for four years. The new cineplex's 25 screens were attached to the Empire Theatre, a playhouse built in 1912 where Bud Abbott and Lou Costello first performed together in 1935. The theatre was moved 168 feet westward to make way for the screens, shops and restaurants! The 3,700 ton structure was pulled by two giants. LOL! You can see what I mean and a number of fascinating features from the original theatre, which now makes up the lobby of the megaplex here. The grand opening was really something and had a major impact on me. You can read the original press release here.

At any rate, that prayer I said on the escalator two years before I'd even been in a feature film was answered a couple of weeks ago on Joyce and my 226th monthaversary... in a small way. We saw the trailer for Providence in the AMC Empire on Times Square. It's playing in all the AMC Theatres that will host the film starting February 12, but if you're not near one of those you can watch it below. The 4K footage looked stunning on the big screen. 

So, the greater answer to that prayer will be fulfilled one week from today when Providence opens in this architectural wonder.

Another way this is answered prayer is that Joyce had prayed I'd be cast in a lead role in a film that honored the Lord literally days before I was cast as Mitchell. She's trying to place when it was and she said it was while we were anticipating the theatrical-on-demand release of Beyond the Mask, in which I play Dr. Bonneville. That opened a week after I was cast in Providence.

When we were in Israel in May 2011 Joyce put a prayer in the Wailing Wall that I would be cast as the lead in a film that honored the Lord and I was soon cast as the adult lead in Indescribable, my first lead role in a feature film at that time.

If you're near NYC I have some promotional helps at www.RichDrama.com/Providence. We'd be SO grateful if you could help get the word out. You can purchase tickets through your favorite ticket outlet like Fandango or at the door. 

Several actors are going to join me for a talkback after the evening screenings on the 12th and 13th, but I'm keeping the whole week clear. If you bring a group let me know and I'd be happy to arrange a talkback then.

Hope to see you on Times Square!

Registration is now open for the 2016 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.