Max McLean | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | University of Texas |
Occupation(s) | Stage actor, writer, and producer |
Years active | 1992-present |
Spouse | Sharon McLean |
Children | 2 |
Max McLean (born April 14, 1953) is a Panamanian-born American [1] stage actor, writer, and producer. [2] He is the founder and artistic director of the Fellowship for Performing Arts, [3] a New York City-based company that produces live theater and film from a Christian worldview. [4]
McLean is known for his stage adaptations of books by author and theologian C. S. Lewis. Some of McLean's adaptations include The Screwtape Letters (written with Jeffrey Fiske), [5] [6] The Great Divorce (written with Brian Watkins), [7] [8] and C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert (based on Surprised by Joy ). [9] C.S. Lewis Onstage was adapted into a film, The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis , which starred McLean as an older Lewis, was released in 2021. [10]
Outside of his work regarding Lewis, McLean wrote the play Martin Luther on Trial with Chris Cragin-Day, [2] [11] [12] and narrated KJV, NIV, and ESV versions of "The Listener's Bible", an audio Bible. [13]
McLean was born in Panama City, Panama, on April 14, 1953. McLean immigrated to the United States through New York City at age four. [13]
McLean graduated from the University of Texas in 1975, where participation in theater helped him overcome a fear of public speaking. After graduating, he pursued theatrical studies in London. [14] [13]
In 1992, McLean founded the non-profit theatre company, the Fellowship for Performing Arts (abbreviated as FPA). [13]
Early on, McLean and the FPA toured and performed at colleges and universities. These included one-man shows with dramatic presentations of books of the Bible. He has adapted Genesis, the Acts and the Gospel of Mark (called Mark's Gospel). [13] [3]
After seeing McLean perform Genesis, playwright Jeff Fiske emailed McLean, telling him that he would portray Screwtape well. [1] With Fiske, McLean adapted the 1942 novel The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis as a stageplay, which stars McLean as Screwtape. [6] It has been performed since 2006, [15] and has received positive responses from critics. [16] [17] [6] [18]
McLean and co-writer Brian Watkins developed a stageplay for the 1945 Lewis novel, The Great Divorce , and in September 2013, McLean brought it to the Cape Playhouse in New York City for the development production. [7] On December 13, 2013, it premiered at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and toured nationally in 2014. [19] In December 2019, a revised revival of The Great Divorce opened at Theatre Three on Theatre Row in New York City. [20] After this, it began a national tour. [8]
McLean adapted the 1955 Lewis book Surprised by Joy [9] into the one-man play, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert. McLean also stars as Lewis. [21] The play was adapted into the film, The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis , which McLean reprises his role in as an older Lewis. It was released in 2021. [10]
McLean co-wrote the play, Martin Luther on Trial, with playwright and drama professor Chris Cragin-Day, which premiered at the Lansburgh Theatre in Washington, D.C., on May 12, 2016. [2]
In 2009, McLean received the Jeff Award for Best Solo Performance for his one-man show Mark's Gospel. [22]
McLean's narrations for The Listener's Bible have received several Audie Award nominations in total. One in 1999 for the "Inspirational" category, [23] one in 2000 for "Package Design", [24] and one in 2002 for "Inspirational/Spiritual". [25]
In 1976, McLean became a Protestant Christian, after having grown up a nominal Catholic. [13]
He is married to Sharon McLean, and they have two grown daughters. They live in New York City, and are members of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [13]
Clive Staples Lewis was a British writer, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalene College, Cambridge (1954–1963). He is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, including Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.
The Screwtape Letters is a Christian apologetic novel by C. S. Lewis and dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien. It is written in a satirical, epistolary style and, while it is fictional in format, the plot and characters are used to address Christian theological issues, primarily those to do with temptation and resistance to it.
The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945–1946 theatre season.
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language, alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre.
Laura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer, best known for originating the roles of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins in the West End, for which she received the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in Finding Neverland on Broadway.
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright, poet, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are Eurydice (2003), The Clean House (2004), and In the Next Room (2009). She has been the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career. Two of her plays have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and she received a nomination for Tony Award for Best Play. In 2020, she adapted her play Eurydice into the libretto for Matthew Aucoin's opera of the same name. Eurydice was nominated for Best Opera Recording at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Ralph Howard Cosham, was a British-born American film, stage and voice actor and book narrator. Cosham also recorded under the name Geoffrey Howard. He lived in Reston, Virginia. He was a member of the acting companies of the Washington Theatre Club, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Arena Stage and the Shakespeare Theater all in Washington, DC. Cosham changed careers from British journalist to actor in the 1970s. Several of his works were awarded "Audio Best of the Year" by Publishers Weekly.
Julie Halston is an American actress and comedian who appeared on television, film, and theatre. She received four Drama Desk Award nominations for her Broadway performances, and in 2020 was awarded Isabelle Stevenson Award at the 74th Tony Awards. On television, Halston best-known for playing socialite Bitsy von Muffling in the HBO comedy series, Sex and The City, its film continuation, and the sequel series, And Just Like That....
Jennie Elizabeth Eisenhower is an American actress, director, and realtor. She has performed in theater productions Off-Broadway and in regional theatre, being nominated for seven Barrymore Awards and winning two of them. She has played minor roles in several feature films. She is a great-granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower and granddaughter of Richard Nixon, both presidents of the United States.
January LaVoy is an American actress and audiobook narrator. As an actress, she is most recognized as Noelle Ortiz on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. LaVoy made her Broadway debut in the Broadway premiere of the play Enron at the Broadhurst Theatre on April 27, 2010.
Danny Burstein is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on the Broadway stage, he's received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and nominations for three Grammy Awards.
Paul McCusker is an American writer and producer. He is best known for his work on Adventures in Odyssey, a nationally syndicated radio drama, and for his work with Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre. He has written over 50 books, 21 plays and 4 musicals. His best known works are the play "Catacombs", the novels The Mill House and Epiphany, and his audio adaptations of C.S. Lewis's works.
This is a list of writings by C. S. Lewis.
Robert Hugh Carvel is a British film and theatre actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical, and for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Rupert Murdoch in Ink. For the latter role, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play.
Dave Malloy is an American composer, playwright, lyricist, and actor. He has written several theatrical works, often based on classic works of literature. They include Moby-Dick, an adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel; Octet, a chamber choir musical about internet addiction; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the mind of romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff; Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey; and the Tony Award winning Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on War and Peace.
Justin Goldner is an American music producer, songwriter, arranger and session musician based in New York City, originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Six is a British musical comedy with music, book, and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. It is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, presented in the form of a pop concert. In the show, each of the wives take turns telling their story to determine who suffered the most from their common husband.
Grace McLean is an American actress, playwright, composer and singer. She is known for her roles in various off-Broadway and Broadway productions such as Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Bad Cinderella, Bedbugs, Alice by Heart, and In The Green, the latter of which she wrote and orchestrated. She is also known for her work as a music educator and for fronting the band Grace McLean and Them Apples.
Antonio Cipriano is an American actor and singer. He made his Broadway debut in 2019 playing Phoenix in the musical Jagged Little Pill, a role he originated at the American Repertory Theater. On screen, he has made appearances in television series such as City on a Hill, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History.
The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis is a 2021 British biographical drama film written and directed by Norman Stone, based on the 2016 stage play, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert, by Max McLean. It is about the life and conversion of British writer, lay theologian, and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia series. The film stars McLean, Nicholas Ralph, Eddie Ray Martin, Richard Harrington, Amy Alexander, and Tom Glenister.