RichDrama - Blog #Screen ChildrenRichDrama - Blog #Screen Childrenhttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/Screen-ChildrenTue, 07 Apr 2026 09:16:42 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Jesus Freaks]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/MakingJesusFreaksI was so blessed to perform in the upcoming film  Jesus Freaks !  It's based on events that happened in 1972, during the Jesus Movement.  I ]]>

Performed with the Sorbos

I was so blessed to perform in the upcoming film Jesus Freaks! It's based on events that happened in 1972, during the Jesus Movement. 


I play the adult son of a pastor who tries to stifle the uncontrollable work the Holy Spirit is doing in the youth of his church. My character's daughter is played by Octavia Flynn Sorbo (photo to the left), the daughter of Kevin and Sam Sorbo, who were also in the film, and their son Braeden plays one of the leads. 


The writer/director Nina May (First Lady, Daily Bread) is working on a distribution deal now. Join us in praying for as broad of an audience as possible. 


We saw a rough cut at its premiere. We're praying it will have a powerful impact on those who see it, and that it will help propel the revival that's rising on so many college and university campuses, including many secular schools. 


I was blessed that Cheryl Felicia Rhoads (left in photo to the right) and Mell Flynn (right in the photo to the right) of What's a Girl to Do? were also in our cast! Joyce and I connected with them at the premiere.  

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If you're near Rochester, NY, I hope you can join our performance of the radio drama Unlikely Wise Man. 

]]>Thu, 05 Dec 2024 11:58:10 -0500<![CDATA[Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp 2020]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/rocky-mountain-christian-filmmakers
This photo has all of our acting students, but two of the
filmmaking students left before this photo was taken.
Photo courtesy of Pete P.
We had what we as faculty thought was our smoothest Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp to date! This was the 12th year of Film Camp, and I've taught there annually since 2013.

We were concerned that we'd be shut down by the coronavirus lockdown, but we kept moving forward, and though we lost a few students, we had the ones who helped make it such a smooth week.

We completed three films! After taking out a day for pre-production and auditions on the front side and auditions for some upcoming professional projects on the last day, we completed one short film per day, three days in a row! Our first day had 17 setups! It's really extraordinary, and we know the hand of the Lord assisted us. All three films glorify Him, and I can't wait to let you know once they're released. The rough cuts look fantastic!

It was such a blessing to escape lockdown and spend time in the Colorado Rockies at Ministry Haven and co-teach with Ken Lawrence and his son, Zack Lawrence. We reminisced about how Zack, who was working as the gaffer on Indescribable, wore a shirt with the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp logo. I told him I'd love to teach there someday, and it's been such a tremendous blessing!

In addition to a full filming week we had a couple of guest artists who enhanced our experience.

The producer and director of the series Vindication, Jarod O'Flaherty, did a video conference with our students, and he talked about how it went from a single short film to a series because the right people saw it at a film festival and encouraged him to keep going. Now they're in pre-production for Season Two!

My mini-review is at www.RichDrama.com/Vindication.

Our acting students were so blessed to have Mimi Sagadin join via video conference! Mimi played Corrie ten Boom in Return to the Hiding Place. I've taught with Mimi at the  Christian Worldview Film Festival Guild performed with her in  Princess Cut and  Skydog. I had her speak to our acting students because they were working on a short film I wrote that alludes to Corrie ten Boom's book The Hiding Place. Mimi was kind enough to read the passage our film mentions with the accent she learned while playing Corrie. It was AMAZING! You can see a brief clip from her talk with us below.

The film also deals with loss, and my friend, Chad Moore, was kind enough to create a video clip for our acting students and happened to do it the day after severely damaging his leg! He talked about how he and his family lived through the same loss our screen family was dealing with in the film. It was a powerful addition to our work!

Our newest
screen children!
And speaking of screen families, I added three to our roster of screen children! Though Joyce didn't play their mother, I did a sociodrama with her to help prepare to play my character, so we're adding them to the list, bringing our total up to 28.

My favorite moment actually came after camp was over, when a filmmaking student wrote to me to let me know she was pursuing the Lord more deeply because of a talk I'd done on revival! I had shared a video about the Asbury Revival of 1970, where chapel went for eight days straight around the clock. You can check it out at www.DayAndNight.org/thegreatexperiment.

Here's a short excerpt from our video conference with Mimi. Future students of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp will be able to see the entire session.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kOCACmNwgBY



Sign up to get the announcement that the  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp registration is open for next summer.
]]>Thu, 25 Jun 2020 20:17:00 -0400<![CDATA[Reflection]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/Reflection

Joyce and I got to work on a short film by Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers and Actors Camp alumni William and Morgan Willer ( It's a Life Worth Living, " There").

It's now available for viewing:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/364121185
REFLECTION from William Willer on Vimeo.

We were greeted with my favorite verse, which Morgan remembered from Film Camp and wrote in calligraphy on a card!


I'm playing the role of the father of a young woman played by Joanna Ferbrache ( Celebrity Confessions), who is being seduced by my character's arch nemesis, played by Andrew Hurt ( Polycarp, " One Day"). I'm also serving as acting and accent coach. We've set it in Florida in the late 30s, so the cast (and some of the crew) were speaking in Southern accents all week. One of them said to me, "I don't know if I'll be able to stop talking like this when we leave!" We were all having a ton of fun in the Florida sun!

On Day Two I got to drive this 193 Chevrolet nicknamed "Ethel," and it was an AMAZING experience!

The production value has been astonishing! The cars, costumes, furniture, and especially the locations, almost all donated in order to help tell the Lord's truths in film. It's going to look like a much more expensive production than it is.

We were particularly grateful for The Banyan Estate, which was a 1927 school house that was refurbished just over a year ago. It's an amazing event space for weddings and business events.

This time last year many of this same crew created the short film, "There," which you can watch here:  www.RichDrama.com/There.

You can find this page at www.RichDrama.com/Reflection. We'll announce when the film is released through emailings to which you can subscribe at www.RichDrama.com/Updates.

Click to see the best of the photos Joyce and I took on and around set.

Here are our Production Diaries filmed and edited by Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmaker alumna Morgan Willer...

Day 1
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Day 2 (This shows the 1930 Chevrolet named "Ethel" I got to drive.)
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Pre-Rigging at the amazing  Banyan Estate (I was performing " The New King" on Epiphany while they were setting up.)
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Day 3 (Filmed at the  Banyan Estate.)
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Day 4 (More footage of me driving Ethel.)
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Day 5 (This has my favorite line that won't make it into the film.)
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Day 6 (We wrapped by lunch! Unheard of!)
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There are still openings for the 2019 Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.
]]>Tue, 08 Jan 2019 11:47:00 -0500<![CDATA[Have a blessed Christmas Season!]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/have-blessed-christmas-season-1
In a time when darkness, strife, and division seem to reign--very much like the time Jesus was born--we pray Joy to the World!
Joy to the World; The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King:
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

Joy to the Earth, The Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding Joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground:
He comes to make His Blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

He rules the World with Truth and Grace,
And makes the nations prove
The Glories of His Righteousness,
And Wonders of His Love.
As darkness increases, His Light shines brighter. "He comes to make his Blessings flow / Far as the Curse is found." We've seen his blessings flow in large measure in 2018! I performed in 15 states and eight nations, and Joyce spoke in six of those. Here are a few of the highlights:

January
Rich played Walter and served as acting coach, while Joyce was a key crew member, keeping actors warm between takes in "There," a short film that takes place during a rain storm! Joyce also played the mother of my character's daughter during a sociodrama to help her get ready for an emotional phone call, so we're counting Moriah's character as our 22nd screen child! You can watch "There" now: www.RichDrama.com/There.

February
A 20-year prayer was answered, and Rich got to perform at Christian Cultural Center.

March
Annual workshop at Princeton University, where we visited Jonathan Edward's gravestone which inspired a post about revival.

April
Performed Jonah for a gang unit on Rikers Island.

May
Performed in It's a Life Worth Living and The King's Messengers on the same day! That was a first! Later that month I performed several roles for The Adventum, a wonderful audio drama of the Book of Genesis, which is now available.

June
Taught, coached and performed at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp, where we produced " Return on Investment."

A revival broke out in the theatre
department on our last night of the
Lamplighter Guild for CreativeDisciplines.
July
Taught and directed at the Lamplighter Guild for Creative Disciplines.

August
Performed in Denmark and Sweden on the same day! That was a first!

September
Performed in Norway, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Iceland.

October
Performed at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival.

November
Performed I Dreamed I Was Free in New Mexico, the 43rd state in which I've taught and/or performed. Another first!

December
" Milk and Oranges" released, which was our film at the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2017 and the directorial debut for Joyce. Joyce shared the Christmas Eve eve message at Westchester Chapel.

Here's my prayer for the Mastermedia Christmas party, which is for us all... though we don't wish a broken boiler on anyone! Click the arrow below, or if you're getting this through an emailing, visit www.RichDrama.com/Christmas2018.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rZRLcYHKddU



Registration is now open for the  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp June 23-29.
]]>Sat, 15 Dec 2018 11:24:00 -0500<![CDATA[There]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/There
Joyce and I joined my former students William and Morgan Willer who directed and produced the short film, "There."

Joyce served on crew, and I played a father in search of his daughter during a storm who finds that he has to decide between getting her to safety and bringing a woman in labor to the hospital in his two-seat car.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/292505984
You Should Be THERE: A Short Film from William Willer on Vimeo.

Joyce played my character's wife while the cameras weren't rolling. It was a sociodrama to help get our 22nd screen daughter ready for an emotional phone call. We were all deeply moved by the experience, and hopefully you'll hear that in her performance.

It was an official selection at the Christian Worldview Film Festival and the International Christian Film and Music Festival, where I was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film.

They created this brilliant fundraising video for the project:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/243531200

William and Morgan attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2016. William was on the filmmaking side, and Morgan was one of my actors. Our film for that year, "Felicia's Pledge": www.RichDrama.com/FeliciasPledge. The next summer the siblings switched places and I got to work with William. Our short film that year was "Milk and Oranges": www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.

We also got to work with other  Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp alumni: Rebekah Stought, who plays the expectant mother, did both camps in the summer of 2015, when we offered two week-long camps back-to-back. Click here to see the film Rebekah directed and the two in which she performed.

Gwendelynn Martindale was a filmmaking student, and she wrote, produced and directed her own short film, " One Day."

Though RMCFC alumna Gabby Campana needed to be out of town during filming, she helped with pre and post-production. While we were there we got to see her in a really fun short she starred in with the Willers.

McKenzie set up a performance and
workshop for me in her church in
Albuquerque. Her brother, Matt,
also worked on "There."
While we were on set, RMCFC alumna McKenzie Harris got a call-back to play the lead in a Lamplighter Theatre production, of The Treasure of the Secret Cove. The production team listened to over 250 auditions without considering who the actors were. They were shocked to discover McKenzie was also an alumna of the Lamplighter Guild, where I got to teach this summer.

Of course, my own bride attended the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp as well. The short she directed (...for one scene, and she did cinematography, lighting and sound for other scenes) is now online: www.RichDrama.com/MilkAndOranges.

Here's a great review of "There":

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J-Io1BesinQ

Sign up for the announcement that registration is open for the next Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp.
]]>Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:11:00 -0500<![CDATA[All God's Children]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/all-gods-children
Robert Puncher played our 21st screen child.
Joyce and I performed in this short film by Joseph Holmes. Joyce played an anxious woman, and I got to play the role of God, for which I was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film at the International Christian Film Festival and Best Comedic Performance at the Hollywood Divine International Film Festival.

Here's a great article on our director: Meeting God Halfway.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/282109127
All God's Children from Joseph Holmes on Vimeo.

Though we didn't play husband and wife. Her character had a son, and I played , so we're counting him as our 21st screen child.



See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance.

]]>Fri, 17 Nov 2017 12:18:00 -0500<![CDATA[Mayflower II]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/MayflowerII
Joyce and I performed the rolls of Ferris and Danae Chapman in this outstanding film shot in and near Calgary.

It's available at www.MayflowerII.com. 

Here's a recording of Greg Lammiman (writer/producer) and Dallas Lammiman (director) after the film screened at the 2021 International Christian Film and Music Festival:


https://rumble.com/embed/vn3lft/?pub=a50cx


You can watch Joyce and I accept the Best Screenplay award on behalf of Greg Lammiman at the International Christian Film and Music Festival by clicking here. It starts at 1h, 47m, 49s. 


This is the fourth time we've played husband and wife, and the third in 2014!

Our characters are the parents of a young man who turns us in for being Christians, and I actually coached Jeremiah McFarland, who plays that young man for his audition as a part of the Rocky Mountain Christian Filmmakers Camp in Norwood, CO in June. His sister, Hannah, also went up to play a member of our cell group, an illegal Bible study in a futuristic world where North Americans must read from a government-approved Bible and attend an official church.

Nathan Clarkson played a government official. He was an acting student of mine in 2005, the first year I directed the theatre program. I performed in his film Confessions of a Prodigal Son, starring Kevin Sorbo, almost exactly a year earlier than Mayflower II.

Here's Joyce's report on the project to our home church, Westchester Chapel:

https://archive.org/embed/MayflowerIIReport

I wrote about this and two other Pilgrim projects I've worked on for www.HeadlinePrayer.org: " Pilgrims Past, Future… and Present."
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In  Freedom: William Bradford and the American Pilgrims I play several voices, including Richard Clyfton, the first pastor of the Pilgrims when they separated from the Church of England to avoid government control. 

]]>Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:09:00 -0400<![CDATA[Courageous Love]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/CourageousLove
Joyce and I play husband and wife in this intriguing romance, produced and directed by Daniel Knudsen, who I met on the set of Christmas Grace. He also directed me in Creed of Gold, The King's Messengers, and the upcoming film, Lifestone Velocity.

There's a scene in which Joyce and I are playing with our characters' children. The plan had been for me to swing a backpack around in Central Park, and then the actor playing my character's son would be spun around in a park in Michegan by someone wearing the clothes I had on in Central Park.

Just before we filmed with the backpack I told Daniel we might be able to find children who would want to be in the movie. We prayed at the top of a hill, walked to the bottom, and there was a family with a boy and a girl the right age for our film family. Daniel explained the idea to their father in a very professional way, and he listened with a very stoic look on his face. After Daniel finished, there was a brief pause, and then he said... "Sure." We had such a great time filming with them, and it turned out that they lived close enough to Detroit to see the premiere, which made us all so excited. Unfortunately Daniel said, "They lived in Wisconsin and had a scheduling conflict." He sent them a screener link and said, "They LOVED the movie..." and, "the dad told me that this made his son want to pursue acting."

In January, 2017, it was in theaters in Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois, and it's now available for streaming and on DVD through  CourageousLoveMovie.com and it was launched on www.PureFlix.com on Valentine's Weekend, facing off against 50 Shades Darker. In the interview below Daniel does a great job of expressing how Hollywood tries to tell a compelling love story, which has elements of the greatest love story, the Gospel.

Daniel has a real heart for the Lord and a vision for telling God's truth in powerful ways, and we were thrilled with how it turned out! It has one of the most creative arguments for the reality of God I've seen on film.

The first two films in which we played husband and wife were Indescribable and The Unexpected Bar Mitzvah.

When Joyce and I had our pre-engagement counseling session, our counselor drilled us with all the questions you don't want to ask when you're getting to know each other: political affiliation, denomination, etc. We were firing on so many cylinders I thought it would be safe to throw in some humor. When the counselor asked how many kids we each wanted I threw out twelve, just for laughs. Joyce nearly fell out of her chair. We have a big laugh about it now, especially since Rather to Be Chosen has brought us our twelfth screen child!

Our screen children connected with
me at the 2016 Christian Worldview
Film Festival.
Since then we played husband and wife in Mayflower II and A Matter of Perspective, so we now have 20 screen children and one screen grandchild!

Read the story on how this shot came
to be by clicking here.
Courageous Love was an official selection at the 2016 Christian Worldview Film Festival with the original title, Rather to Be Chosen.

"The Making of Rather to Be Chosen" was an official selection at the 2015 Christian Worldview Film Festival.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/WZAO3oMhLIM?rel=0

https://www.youtube.com/embed/AMmrDFSAPEY?rel=0

]]>Fri, 11 Apr 2014 19:51:00 -0400<![CDATA[The Unexpected Bar Mitzvah]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/TheUnexpectedBarMitzvah

We just watched Donald James Parker's The Unexpected Bar Mitzvah, in which Joyce and I play husband and wife.

It was shown on Daystar Television Network, but you can order the DVD now.

The Dove Foundation gave it a great review: Dove Family-Approved. The review said, " This one has earned five Doves, our best rating."

We're so pleased to be a part of this film that boldly speaks Truth.

I wrote that last sentence months before The Unexpected Bar Mitzvah was nominated for seven  Truth Awards: Best Film, Best Director (Chip Rosetti),  Best Original Screenplay (Donald James Parker won), Best Inspirational Story ( won), Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Rose won), Best Supporting Actress (Donna Botts), and Best Actor (Rich Swingle). It also won Best Evangelistic Film at the GloryReelz Christian Film Festival.

Joyce mentioned our experience with the project:

https://archive.org/embed/AboutTheUnexpectedBarMitzvah

That is from a sermon, which you can hear in its entirety here.

Like the film on  Facebook.

Screenwriter and producer Donald James Parker interviewed me on his show, Wielding the Sword of the Spirit, which has been my most visited blog post.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/KuaZJLyuG9U?rel=0



]]>Wed, 01 Jan 2014 18:17:00 -0500<![CDATA[Indescribable]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/Indescribable

I played Frederick Lehman in the film Indescribable, which tells how my character and his kids wrote the hymn "The Love of God." I'm the Papa to nine children, and my beloved bride, Joyce, played the Mama beautifully.

I also got to coach the man playing Rabbi Lazer on his Hebrew.

It was chosen as a semi-finalist for the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (SAICFF), where it was screened in February 2013. There it also won runner up for best original score. It also won second place over all and best direction at the Gloryreelz Film Festival in May 2013.

You can watch it on Amazon Prime. 



                  
It was 106 F outside this "packing
plant" in Bryan, TX. When they
closed the doors,  turned off the fans
and cranked up the lights it had to
be over 120!
Copyright Thorn Crown Project,
photo by Rebekah E. Cook
I played Fredrick Lehman, who was
a pastor, hymn writer, and founder
of Nazarene Publishing House.
Copyright Thorn Crown Project,
photo by Rebekah E. Cook

Joyce and I play parents (or in-laws, or future in-laws, or grandparents)
to them all.
Copyright Thorn Crown Project, photo by Rebekah E. Cook



]]>Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:16:00 -0400