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 company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of the Fellowship for Performing Arts, a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based company that produces live theater and film from a

Christian worldview Christian worldview (also called biblical worldview) refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which a Christian individual, group or culture interprets the world and interacts with it. Various denominations of Christianity have differi ...

. 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, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

. 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 Chris ...

'' (written with Jeffrey Fiske), ''

The Great Divorce ''The Great Divorce'' is a novel by the British author C. S. Lewis, published in 1945, based on a theological dream vision of his in which he reflects on the Christian conceptions of Heaven and Hell. The working title was ''Who Goes Home?'' but ...

'' (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 (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

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

audio Bible Audio Bibles or spoken Bibles are Bibles that were recorded in audio format. They provide the listener the ability to listen to the Scriptures without being required to look directly at written text. History The first audio Bible (KJV in English ...

Early life and education

McLean was born in

Panama City, Panama Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province ...

, on April 14, 1953. McLean immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

through

at age four. 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, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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 is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. He has adapted

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

the Acts The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-par ...

and the Gospel of Mark (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 Screwtape Letters'' (first published in ''The Guardian'' 1941, collected and published in book form 1942) and in its sequel short story ''Screwtape Proposes a Toast'' (1959), both written by the Ch ...

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

'' by

as a stageplay, which stars McLean as Screwtape. 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, ''

'', and in September 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 began 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 PCA's Redeemer Presbyterian Church is a church located in New York City, founded in 1989 by Timothy J. Keller, who retired as pastor in July 2017. The family of Redeemer churches includes Redeemer Downtown, Redeemer West Side, Redeemer East Si ...

References

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