Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp 2019

We had another great group of students at this year's Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers and Actors Camp! I got to coach our acting students in a short piece by Zack Lawrence called "Loneliness," and I really think it will resonate with a lot of people, and prayerfully it will encourage them greatly! I also got to play the role of the lead character's father, so that was fun, too.



Here it is:







We created this scene for our two actors who had the fewest lines. We devised it through sociodrama (www.RichDrama.com/Workshops).

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We'll open registration for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp for 2020 in the fall. Sign up at www.RichDrama.com/Updates to get the announcement.

The Perfect Stranger

Last night, after a series of great dinners with great friends, we watched The Perfect Stranger, which is the ultimate great dinner! A cynical lawyer gets an invitation to dinner at her favorite restaurant with Jesus Christ, and He answers all of her questions, quite profoundly. I highly recommend it!



I posted about the dinners and the movie on social media, and almost immediately my friend Katie Lentz commented: Rich! In The Perfect Stranger, Nikki is played by my friend Pamela! You met her when we saw you in Revelation. Cool connection!



I'll say it's a cool connection! I got to thinking about it, and when Pamela saw Revelation she watched my character interact with Jesus. So, my mind kept going on this. I first saw The Perfect Stranger in the Philippines while performing and teaching some workshops at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, where I just found out our host for one of our dinners had taught a few years before I was there. The man playing Jesus with my character in Revelation was played by a Filipino.



So I had a little whoah moment, but my brain kept noodling. That cool God wink wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been in Revelation, which happened because I "happened" to be at the only combined gathering of Mastermedia and The Hang that I'm aware of. That was where I shared that I do a 1-man play about The Revelation, and the producers later called to see if I'd perform the role of John in their Off-Broadway musical.



But Pamela wouldn't have seen Revelation the Musical if Katie hadn't invited her, and Katie wouldn't be alive if it weren't for a series of extraordinary miracles after an extreme car wreck (main miracles, follow-up).



I wouldn't have seen The Perfect Stranger in the Philippines if I hadn't met the folks who invited me to perform there while I was in Indiana, and I wouldn't have been there if I hadn't been invited to teach for one week... that turned into 16 years at the MasterWorks Festival. I wouldn't have been invited to teach for that week if I hadn't been a member of Christians in Theatre Arts.



And you wouldn't be reading this if I wasn't pondering it hours before I'd planned on getting up for my last work day before leaving town for seven weeks. I felt like the Lord wanted me to take the time to write this up. Maybe it was for you.



If you don't notice the profound things the Lord is doing all around you, I invite you to have dinner with Jesus.



I write more about that at www.RichDrama.com/MyPassion.

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I play a lead in Providence, which you can bring to your area or watch at home.

The Mountain Contest

I'm so pleased with the final edit of "The Mountain Contest!" It's the latest episode on Airship Genesis, and I got to reprise my role as Elijah! 

For about 20 years I've been doing a short play about Elijah called "Prophet of Fear" (www.RichDrama.com/ShortPieces). In 2005 I got to perform it on Mt. Carmel, where the Airship Genesis story also takes place. 

You can hear it now for free by clicking here.

Stay tuned for information on the release of their upcoming mobile game in which I'll reprise another role, John the Baptist: www.RichDrama.com/AirshipGenesis.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

Joshua Faith Challenge

Today is the first day of a Great Experiment, hosted by Christian Union, a campus ministry to the "Ivies," the eight Ivy League universities. You don't have to be a graduate to take part.

One of our commitments is to do a Joshua Faith Challenge, stepping beyond our daily routines to expand the Kingdom of God in a way that is larger than our typical patterns. I've chosen one of their suggestions which is to daily post the Good News that Jesus loves you every day on social media. I'd love to share testimonies from others of how the Lord has changed your life through a relationship with Him. Please post yours below, and I'll share it on my Facebook and Instagram pages.  

I got to speak at Christian Union's Ivy League Congress on Faith and Action a few years ago (www.RichDrama.com/IvyLeague), and it gave me great hope for our future to see 500 of our nation's brightest students from all eight Ivies worshipping the Lord with wild abandon and talking about using their world-class degrees to expand the Lord's Kingdom on earth.  

I'm tagging them on Facebook and Instagram as #RichSwingleJoshuaFaithChallenge. 

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There are still openings for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp this summer, where I'll be teaching acting for film.

John the Baptist in Airship Genesis Mobile Game

That's from the Airship Genesis Mobile Game, and recently I performed the voice of John the Baptist for it.

It was pretty cool, because in 2011 I got to play him baptising Jesus... about 100m from a church dedicated to that event!



The day after I played John the Baptist for the mobile game I was reading through Farm Boy on Times Square, the journal I kept when I first arrived in NYC in 1993, and found this entry:

When John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Christ, he was a voice, crying in the wilderness.  He was for them, a modern-day prophet.  The people related to that image.  It was familiar.  Society in NYC, and in America in general, is so individualistic, that it seems to me personal messages are the only ones received well.

The mobile game is quite fun and challenging! My "scene" is on level 11.

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I Dreamed I Was Free tells the story of Quaker abolitionist John Woolman, who spoke against slavery a century before our Civil War.

Interview about Revelation the Musical on The Gate Radio

I recently got to do an interview on The Gate Radio with George Flores, who I've known since the mid-90's. We even made their front page! Here's the direct link to the full page.



Here are links to things we talked about in the interview:

Revelation the Musical

Dustin Ceithamer

Jonathon Blair

www.RichDrama.com/UpdatesNYC

www.RichDrama.com/TheRevelation

Mastermedia.com

TheHang.NYC

Melissa Mollner

If you missed it, there's one more airing Saturday at 7:40 AM.

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There are still openings for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp and the Christian Artist Mentoring Project this summer, where I'll be teaching acting for film (RMCFC) and stage (CAMP).

Revelation the Musical

What a joy it's been to be a part of Revelation the Musical. I'm half-way through my three weeks of this Off-Broadway run which will run through June 9.



I’ve been performing my own one-man play based on The Revelation for almost 20 years, so I’m just delighted to be playing John in this musical production of the last book of the Bible. Its energy and creativity make it feel like it could become the next Godspell.



If you didn't get the discount code I sent to friends in and near New York City, subscribe at www.RichDrama.com/UpdatesNYC, and I'll get it to you.







This one has different clips, and includes me getting pulled into the air by two of my colleagues.

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There are still openings for the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp and the Christian Artist Mentoring Project this summer, where I'll be teaching acting for film (RMCFC) and stage (CAMP).