The Screwtape Letters Sets Venues and Dates for 2023 Tour!
he wait is over for fans of Fellowship for Performing Arts’ production of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.
After a three-year hiatus, the international hit play’s 2023 tour launches Aug. 16-20 in Houston in advance of stops in Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Irvine, California, with more to come.
FPAtheatre.com will always have the most up-to-date information on tour dates, times and tickets.
“The show creates a topsy turvy, morally inverted world seen from the perspective of ‘His Abysmal Sublimity, Screwtape,’ a senior tempter in Hell, who schools his nephew Wormwood in the art of tempting a human on earth toward damnation,” said FPA Founder and Artistic Director Max McLean, who adapted the book for the stage and originated the role on national tour, in hit New York City productions and in London.
“The lasting impact of Lewis’ epistolary novel about temptation from a devil’s-eye view speaks to its continuing relevance.”
For 17 years, audiences and critics alike have marveled at Lewis’ insight and wit brought to life on stage. The Wall Street Journal called it “Wickedly Witty. One Hell of a Good Show.” The New York Times said, “The Devil has rarely been given his due more perceptively.” Christianity Today found it, “A Profound Experience!”
Audiences have voiced approval through their attendance. Over 600,000 people have seen the play so far, and that number will grow this year. When tickets go on sale in your community, act fast. For this tour, veteran Screwtape actor Brent Harris (Scar in The Lion King national tour) returns to the role.
Lewis’ book was first published in 1942, and it gained him an international reputation – including his face on the cover of Time magazine.
Oddly enough, Lewis credits listening to an Adolph Hitler speech, in part, for Screwtape.
It was in 1940 that Lewis heard the radio broadcasts of what Hitler termed his final call for Britain to exit the war – or face what would become known as The Blitz.
“I don’t know if I’m weaker than other people,” Lewis said, “but it is a positive revelation to me how, while the speech lasts, it is impossible not to waver just a little.” And in a letter to his brother, Lewis wrote, “Statements which I know to be untrue all but convince me, at any rate for the moment, if only the man says them unflinchingly.”
And with those seeds of thoughts planted, Lewis’ fertile mind would raise up the character of Screwtape, who will again take to the boards beginning in August.
We are so grateful for the support of our Fellowship Circle of donors who make this tour possible.
