BreatheCast sat down with actor David Payne to discuss his popular one-man play on the life of legendary novelist, scholar and Christian pioneer C.S. Lewis, as the theatrical production hits Broadway in New York City.

Payne got his career start as an actor at the age 55 in his very first role as C.S. Lewis. The British actor has been doing it ever since and does not intend to stop as audiences all over the country hail the actor as Lewis himself.

"I enjoy doing them, if I didn't enjoy doing them I wouldn't keep playing the role," Payne said of his performances on Lewis adding that the "important thing is that the audience enjoys them."

Payne also said he does not intend to stop, "I'll keep going until this body tells me that it's had enough," he stated.

When asked why he stuck to playing the role of Lewis he spoke highly of the author. "C.S Lewis is a wonderful character to portray. He was a very great man and it's nice to play some body who had that sort of charisma about him."

Unlike thousands of people all over the world that are devoted followers of Lewis, Payne admitted that he really got into Lewis more after he got the part to play him. The actor had been given a copy of the Lewis book 'The Screwtape Letters' when he was 17-years-old, around the time he became a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade.

"I wouldn't say I was an avid fan...but of course once I got involved with playing Lewis, I then did a lot more study, a lot more research... and got a much broader perspective of Lewis," Payne said.

"I rub shoulders with Lewis on the stage very regularly and he was a great man, a very humble man, a very generous man, very intelligent, a sincere man as a Christian and I just hope that some of that rubs off," he added.

'An Evening With C.S. Lewis' the theatrical performance takes place in Lewis' home just outside of Oxford. During the performance he is hosting a group of American writers who have come to hear him give this little plotted history of his life.

"It's a very informal chat, it's not a lecture and Lewis just talks to his audience in a very intimate way," Payne describes, "It's very funny because C.S. ?Lewis was very funny."

"People come along and they are surprised how much they laughed," he added.

The evening will touch on how Lewis became a Christian, his relationship with J. R. R. Tolkien (author of 'The Lord of the Rings'), and the American woman who turned his life upside down and became his wife and then how he dealt with the grief of losing her and getting through that.

Payne said, "A lot of people come out and they say, 'I feel like I've been with C.S. Lewis.'" He said that he was extremely flattered by those comments.

"If you can rub shoulders with great men, you hope that it comes off," he maintained.

When asked about Lewis the Christian, the actor affirmed, "The one great thing about Lewis is that he makes you think about your faith."

"I think that's good because sometimes we can become blasé with the truth. We know it so well it doesn't impact us," he explained, "Lewis had this wonderful ability to talk about truth."

'An Evening With C.S. Lewis' will be presented at the United Solo Festival in New York City tonight (19^th) at 9 pm and will reportedly be coming back to the big city for more performances in the future.

Watch a clip of Payne portraying Lewis in the theatrical performance below, and visit Davidpaynedrama.com for more information.