CHRISTMAS WITH C.S. LEWIS Starring Daniel Payne Plays Broadway Playhouse In Chicago

CHRISTMAS WITH C.S. Lewis is currently playing at Broadway In Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse, featuring Daniel Payne in the role of author and theologian C.S. Lewis. The production runs through the holiday season and is presented at the Broadway Playhouse, located at 175 E. Chestnut Street.

Set on Christmas Eve at Lewis’s home near Oxford, the play imagines the writer hosting a group of American visitors celebrating Christmas in England. Through a series of reflections and recollections, Lewis recounts how his understanding of Christmas was transformed following a pivotal conversation with his close friend and fellow writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Once a skeptic who regarded the story of Christ’s birth as myth, Lewis ultimately came to see Christianity differently, reshaping both his faith and his relationship to the holiday.

Daniel Payne steps into the role for the Chicago engagement, following in the footsteps of his father, playwright David Payne, who originated the piece and has portrayed C.S. Lewis in more than 1,000 performances worldwide. Daniel Payne is a British actor with training in performing arts whose stage credits include The Bacchae, Under Milk Wood, An Inspector Calls, Aladdin, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In addition to acting, he works as a writer, composer, musician, director, voice actor, and public speaker.

Payne is a longtime performer with Bird and Baby Productions, touring extensively in the United States and the United Kingdom in productions including Churchill, An Evening with C.S. Lewis, and A Christmas with C.S. Lewis. His performances focus on intimate storytelling, tracing key moments in Lewis’s life from childhood and loss of faith to his return to Christianity and later personal experiences.

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Chicago Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. HAIRSPRAY (Uptown Music Theater of Highland Park)

6.7% of votes

2. RENT (Highland Park Players)

6.7% of votes

3. DREAMGIRLS (The Drama Group)

6.4% of votes

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