Interview: Max McLean Chats About THE GREAT DIVORCE and The Fellowship for Performing Arts Inaugural Season

By: Nov. 25, 2015
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Max McLean, the artistic director for Fellowship for Performing Arts, sits down with BroadwayWorld to chat about the companies inaugural season and bringing C.S. Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE to life on stage.

McLean chats about bringing The Great Divorce to life on stage, crafting this season for The Fellowship for Performing Arts and even the original new play entitled MARTIN LUTHER ON TRIAL. Check out the full interview below!

Can you talk about adapting C.S Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE and what went into the process?

Sure. The project began with my co-writer Brian Watkins he delivered the initial draft that we brought into a lab, which we did a couple years ago in New York. We did that for about 3 weeks. We had a bunch of actors and director in a room. Then we did small re-writes, I got more involved after that. Then we did a development production at the Cape Playhouse in New York in the Fall of 2013. We did some more re-writes and went to the Herberger Theatre in Phoenix where we first allowed it to be reviewed. Then we've been on tour and over the course of the tour we did more re-writes until we came to New York. There haven't been very many changes after that. Then for this round we finally have it visually where we want it. You really have to sell the show visually because it's about the outskirts of heaven. The projection design is quite extraordinary and so is the sound design and the composition. They just add a mystical quality.

Sounds like all the moving pieces finally came together for this run of the show?

Yeah totally!

You're the artistic director for Fellowship for Performing Arts, can you talk a little bit about your role?

The reason we wanted to have a season of four shows is to brand the Fellowship for Performing Arts as a new theatre company in New York. In the past we've produced, but we mostly branded ourself. We were at the West Side Theatre for 9 months and people knew about it, but they didn't really know the production company behind the show that was being produced. So, what we wanted to do is establish ourselves as a non-profit theatre company in NYC, producing new work.

Did you always know you wanted to take The Great Divorce and have it be part of this inaugural season?

I've been a big fan of C.S Lewis so once we did SCREWTAPE we wanted to have another experience with C.S Lewis so as both Screwtape and The Great Divorce are fantasies, you know Narnia is sort of for kids, Screwtape and The Great Divorce are fantasies for adults. We love working with C.S Lewis so it made sense to The Great Divorce in this season with Screwtape.

How does it differ from other theatre like it?

First and foremost it really keeps you entertained and it provokes thought. That's what theatre has to do, if it doesn't do that then it doesn't matter what else it does. Beyond that, I think it encourages a kind of self-reflection about how we live our lives and the choices that we make. It also makes us think about what motivates those choices, what impulses do we have to love or be selfish, those seem to be the two main ones. So really that determines the trajectory of our lives and that is something Lewis spent a lot of time talking about in almost all of his writings.

You have the two adaptations as part of the season, but you also have MARTIN LUTHER ON TRIAL. Can you talk about that original work?

The first two shows, they're full shows. They are ready to go for the public and ready to be reviewed. The other two shows are development projects. Martin Luther on Trial was on inspired by the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is 2017 and so there will be quite a bit of attention played to Martin Luther. So, we thought that we should get ahead of the curve and do a story that puts his legacy on trial. He is considered one of the most influential people in the past millennium and he divided the Christian Church and some people believe he was instrumental in anti-semitism. So, we thought to take a look at Luther's legacy and let's put him on trial. So, we have all these witnesses. The trial takes place in the afterlife and we have all these witnesses such as, Freud, Martin Luther King Jr. Pope Francis even makes an appearance in our play. So, it's certainly risqué, it is controversial, but we think it's going to have something to say. We are going to develop it here, we will have developmental productions. I anticipate we will bring it back for a full production for the public in the fall of next year.

In a limited, special premiere presentation of C.S. LEWIS ONSTAGE: THE MOST RELUCTANT CONVERT, McLean takes audiences on a fascinating theatrical adventure as C.S. Lewis, tracing his journey from atheism to belief. Adapted from his writings, McLean inhabits Lewis from the death of his mother, his estranged relationship with his father and the experiences that led him from vigorous debunker to the most accessible and eloquent Christian intellectual of the 20th Century. C.S. LEWIS ONSTAGE is 80 fast-paced minutes brimming with Lewis' entertaining wit and thought-provoking insight as one of the most engaging personalities of our age comes to life on stage. C.S. LEWIS ONSTAGE will be presented Dec. 13-14 and Dec. 20-21, and Feb. 18-21.

Tickets for all shows are now on sale. To purchase tickets, please visit www.FPAtheatre.com or call 212-563-9261.



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