Actor Max McLean Receives the C.S. Lewis Foundation Faculty Forum Award

Award-winning actor Max McLean received the C.S. Lewis Foundation Faculty Forum Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contributions in Faith and Dramatic Arts at the organization's recent triennial conference in Oxford, U.K. 

The award cites McLean's "exemplary artistic achievement demonstrated by a body of work that glorifies God on stage, through film and audio production." 

"I am deeply appreciative of this recognition from the C.S. Lewis Foundation," said McLean, founder and artistic director of New York City-based Fellowship for Performing Arts. "I count it a great privilege to bring the insight, wit and spiritual journey of C.S. Lewis to life on stage and screen." 

For three decades, McLean has created and performed theatrical and film productions from a Christian worldview that are meant to engage a broad and diverse audience. He recently starred in the film The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis, which has been seen in 130 countries worldwide and now is available on Amazon Prime Vido, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube and on DVD and Blu-rayÆ. 

The film is based on McLean's stage production of C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert. Other Fellowship for Performing Arts' productions include C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, which McLean adapted from the Lewis novel and starred in and has been seen by over 600,000 people; C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, also adapted by McLean; and C.S. Lewis on Stage: Further Up & Further In, launching a nationwide tour in September. 

FPA also created and produced Martin Luther on Trial in New York and on national tour, the first New York revival of the award-winning play Shadowlands, an original play based on Paradise Lost and a New York revival of A Man for All Seasons. The organization has announced that two additional films on Lewis' life are in early stages of development. 

Earlier in his career, McLean performed one-man dramatic presentations of complete books of the Bible, including Genesis, Acts and Mark's Gospel, for which he earned a Jeff Award, Chicago theatre's highest honor. 

In honoring McLean, the Foundation's Forum Award said: "You courageously entered the world of theater arts, not just to entertain, but engage your audiences with truth and beauty. . . . You continue to gather together and inspire a new generation of theater and film artisans who are committed to offering the Christian worldview through their craft." 

McLean received the award at the Foundation's 11^th International Summer Institute on July 29.  Previous award recipients include author Madeleine L'Engle, Lewis' secretary and biographer Walter Hooper, author and speaker Os Guinness and Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson. 

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