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

-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 Univers ...

. 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'' (written with Brian Watkins), and ''C.S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert'' (based on '' Surprised by Joy''). ''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 loca ...

, 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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word ''glossophobia'' derives from the Greek γλῶσσα ''glossa'' (tongue) and φόβος ''phobos'' (fear or dread.) The causes of glossophobia are uncertain but explanations i ...

. 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 ...

. 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 of ...

, the Acts 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 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 Herberger Theater Center is an indoor performing arts venue featuring three stages in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, whose mission is to support and foster the growth of performing arts in Phoenix as the premier performance venue, arts incubator and ...

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 '' Surprised by Joy'' 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 The Harman Center for the Arts is a complex consisting of the Michael R. Klein Theatre (450 7th Street NW) and Sidney Harman Hall (SHH; at Sixth and F Streets NW) in downtown Washington, D.C., US. SHH is the latest addition to the existing Lansbu ...

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 sta ...

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