Max McLean (born April 14, 1953) is a Panamanian-born American stage actor, writer, and producer. He is the founder and

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

of the Fellowship for Performing Arts, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

-based company that produces live theater and film from a Christian worldview. McLean is known for his stage adaptations of books by author and theologian

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

. Some of McLean's adaptations include ''

The Screwtape Letters ''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 Chri ...

'' (written with Jeffrey Fiske), '' The Great Divorce'' (written with Brian Watkins), and ''C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert'' (based on ''

Surprised by Joy ''Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life'' is a partial autobiography published by C. S. Lewis in 1955. The work describes Lewis's life from very early childhood (born 1898) until his conversion to Christianity in 1931, but does not go b ...

''). ''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. Outside of his work regarding Lewis, McLean wrote the play ''Martin Luther on Trial'' with Chris Cragin-Day, and narrated

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

NIV Niv may refer to: * Niv, a personal name; for people with the name, see * Niv Art Movies, a film production company of India * Niv Art Centre, in New Delhi, India NIV may refer to: * The New International Version, a translation of the Bible into ...

, and ESV versions of "The Listener's Bible", an audio Bible.

Early life and education

McLean was born in

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, on April 14, 1953. McLean immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

through

at age 4. McLean graduated from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1975, where participation in theater helped him overcome a fear of public speaking. After graduating, he pursued theatrical studies in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Career

In 1992, McLean founded the non-profit theatre company, the Fellowship for Performing Arts (abbreviated as FPA). 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 The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

. He has adapted

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

, the Acts and

the Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

(called ''Mark's Gospel'').

C. S. Lewis stage adaptations

After seeing McLean perform ''Genesis'', playwright Jeff Fiske emailed McLean, telling him that he would portray

Screwtape Screwtape appears as a fictional demon in the book ''The Screwtape Letters'' (1942) and in its sequel short story ''Screwtape Proposes a Toast'' (1959), both written by the Christian author C. S. Lewis. ''Screwtape'' is also the title of the ...

well. With Fiske, McLean adapted the 1942 novel ''

'' by

as a stageplay, which stars McLean as Screwtape. and it has been performed since 2006, and has received positive responses from critics. McLean and co-writer Brian Watkins developed a stageplay for the 1945 Lewis novel, '' The Great Divorce'', and in September of 2013, McLean brought it to the Cape Playhouse in New York City for the development production. On December 13, 2013, it premiered at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and toured nationally in 2014. In December 2019, a revised revival of ''The Great Divorce'' opened at Theatre Three on Theatre Row in New York City. After this, it begun a national tour. McLean adapted the 1955 Lewis book ''

'' into the one-man play, ''C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert''. McLean also stars as Lewis. 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.

Other projects

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.

Awards

In 2009, McLean received the

Jeff Award The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater st ...

for Best Solo Performance for his one-man show ''Mark's Gospel''. McLean's narrations for The Listener's Bible have received several

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

nominations in total. One in 1999 for the "Inspirational" category, one in 2000 for "Package Design",, and one in 2002 for "Inspirational/Spiritual".

Personal life

In 1976, McLean became a Protestant Christian, after having grown up a nominal Catholic. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Max American male stage actors Living people 1953 births People from Panama City