Christmas with CS Lewis

As a young man, C.S. Lewis dismissed the story of Christ’s birth as a comforting myth—nothing more. That changed after a life-altering conversation with his friend and fellow author, J.R.R. Tolkien. While both men deeply loved myth, Tolkien believed that the story of Jesus was the one true myth. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of Lewis’s journey from atheism to Christianity. From then on, Christmas took on a profoundly different meaning for him.

We now find Lewis at his home near Oxford on Christmas Eve, welcoming a group of Americans spending the holiday in England. They're about to experience an unforgettable evening of Yuletide reflections, filled with laughter, insight, emotion—and a deeper understanding of how one conversation transformed Lewis’s view of Christmas forever.

David Payne never intended to become an actor. In 1996, he responded to a casting call for Shadowlands at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center, mostly because he had a British accent. To his surprise, he landed the lead role of C.S. Lewis. That performance launched his acting career. Inspired by Lewis’s writings and life, Payne went on to create An Evening with C.S. Lewis, now his signature production with over 800 performances worldwide—bringing Lewis’s voice and story vividly to life.