OREGONIAN’S IMPACT ON 30 NATIONS DURING THE OLYMPICS
October 24 at 7pm
grad, Rich Swingle (1987), tells how his performances and workshops reached people
from at least 30 different countries and every populated continent during the London
Games. It will be presented for the first time to a public audience on October 24, 7pm, at
Medford Friends Church, which Swingle attended throughout high school. Admission is
free. An offering will be taken to raise funds for Swingle’s upcoming performances
throughout Africa.
Beyond the Chariots (www.RichDrama.com/BeyondTheChariots) and taught drama
workshops in Puerto Rico, Romania and London.
of Fire story: How, after refusing to run on a Sunday in the 100m and breaking the world
record in the 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympics, Eric Liddell left fame and fortune behind
to be a missionary in China. Swingle’s one-man play shows Liddell teaching and
coaching track until the Japanese Invasion. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Allied
nationals were interned throughout China. In the documentary Swingle shares how an
encounter with Liddell’s daughters at the Eric Liddell Awards inspired a new ending to
the play he’s been performing since 2004. The Eric Liddell Awards honored two
Olympians.
translation. Swingle’s documentary shows the power of drama across language
barriers.
stops on Swingle’s journey, and the focus is how powerfully drama can impact people
from a wide variety of cultures.
In London Swingle received invitations to perform and teach in South Africa,
Malawi and Nigeria. Swingle hopes to add those stops to a trip to Kenya to perform and
teach at a conference at the Rift Valley Academy, where his grandparents, Dr. Clifford
and Hilda Miller served as dorm parents. The Millers, now deceased, were both active
in the Rogue Valley. Dr. Miller taught history at Southern Oregon State University, and
Hilda Miller spoke through Women’s Aglow. Swingle’s mother, Judy Swingle, was a
student at Rift Valley Academy. She continues to work as a medical transcriptionist at
the Rogue Valley Medical Center.
Swingle has performed and/or taught in 25 nations on five continents, but this will
be his first trip to Africa.
