Paul McCusker

McCusker grew up in Bowie, Maryland. He graduated from college with a degree in journalism and spent several years writing copy for a local publisher. From the late 1970s, he began writing sketches and plays for his church, Grace Baptist, many of which were published and are still in print.{{Cite web |last=Conte |first=Mario |date=September 30, 2021 |title=Paul McCusker |url=https://www.messengersaintanthony.com/content/paul-mccusker |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=www.messengersaintanthony.com |language=en}} Among his most popular plays are "Catacombs"{{cite web |url=http://media.www.omnibusonline.com/media/storage/paper193/news/2003/04/24/TheGallery/catacombs.Script.Unrealistic.Presentation.Decent-424078.shtml |title='Catacombs:' script - unrealistic, presentation - decent |last=Morford |first=Jessica |date=April 24, 2003 |work=The Omnibus |accessdate=March 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715000332/http://media.www.omnibusonline.com/media/storage/paper193/news/2003/04/24/TheGallery/catacombs.Script.Unrealistic.Presentation.Decent-424078.shtml |archivedate=July 15, 2011 }} and "First Church of Pete's Garage".

In 1985, McCusker moved to California to write for Continental Singers and their touring drama group The Jeremiah People. In 1988, he was invited by Focus on the Family to help develop a radio show for kids, which later became Adventures in Odyssey. He still consults on the show's scripts and writes them on occasion. He has also written 18 tie-in novels, including the "Passages" series.

In the late 1990s, McCusker developed Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre.{{cite web |url=http://www.radioworld.com/article/71464 |title='Radio Theatre': Tales With a Message |last=Deutsch |first=Ken |date=December 12, 2008 |work=Radio World |accessdate=March 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503214624/http://www.radioworld.com/article/71464 |archive-date=May 3, 2009 |url-status=dead }} He has also dramatized C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, as well as A Christmas Carol, Les Misérables, Amazing Grace, and the Father Gilbert Mysteries. He won a Peabody Award in 1997 for his work on Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom.{{Cite web |date=2007 |title=Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom |url=https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/dietrich-bonhoeffer-the-cost-of-freedom/ |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=The Peabody Awards |language=en-US}} Paul also writes novels, The Mill House and Epiphany being perhaps the best-known, and TSI: The Gabon Virus (2009) his most recent, which was co-written with Dr. Walt Larimore.

Paul has continued his audio drama efforts with the Augustine Institute, writing and directing Brother Francis, The Trials of Saint Patrick, Ode to Saint Cecilia, and The Legends of Robin Hood.{{Cite web |date=2017-05-29 |title=Paul McCuster |url=https://moodyaudio.com/person/paul-mccuster |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=moodyaudio.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Youth Titles By Paul McCusker {{!}} Augustine Institute |url=https://www.augustineinstitute.org/program-categories/youth-titles-by-paul-mccusker |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=www.augustineinstitute.org}}

Paul McCusker moved to England with his wife in 1991 and lived in Hailsham and Winchester for a time.{{Cite web |last=Sutter |first=J. D. |date=February 28, 2011 |title=ATC6: Father Gilbert - A Soul In Torment Review & Paul McCusker Interview |url=https://www.audiotheatrecentral.com/2011/02/atc-episode-6-father-gilbert-soul-in.html |access-date=April 21, 2024}} He was a Baptist until he attended an Anglican Church in England. Now he lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado with his wife Elizabeth and two children; Thomas and Eleanor.{{Cite web |title=Tyndale {{!}} Authors {{!}} Paul McCusker |url=https://www.tyndale.com/authors/paul-mccusker/412 |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=www.tyndale.com |language=en-US}} In 2007, he converted to Catholicism.{{Cite news|url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/storyteller_says_the_greatest_story_led_him_to_the_church|title=Storyteller Says the Greatest Story Led Him to the Church|last=Drake|first=Tim|date=June 2, 2010|work=National Catholic Register|access-date=April 5, 2017}}

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• [https://books.google.com/books?q=%22Paul+McCusker%22 Works of McCusker] at Google Books
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090503214624/http://www.radioworld.com/article/71464 "'Radio Theatre': Tales With a Message" - Radio World]
• [http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1116/p13s1-almo.html/(page)/2 "From bestseller to blockbuster" - The Christian Science Monitor]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110904171552/http://www.audiotheatrecentral.com/2011/02/atc-episode-6-father-gilbert-soul-in.html Interview with Paul McCusker regarding Adventures in Odyssey & Focus on the Family Radio Theatre - 2/28/2011]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130127192848/http://beyondthemaskmovie.com/site/home/ Screenwriter for Beyond The Mask]

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• {{Official website|www.paulmccusker.com}}
• {{AIOWiki|id=Paul_McCusker|name=Paul McCusker}}
• [https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/faithmediaandculture/2017/03/12-questions-bill-mccusker-writer-trials-st-patrick-radio-drama.html 12 Questions for Paul McCusker] From Faith, Media & Culture column at Beliefnet.com.

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Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male novelists

Category:American radio writers

Category:American male radio actors

Category:Adventures in Odyssey

Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism

Category:Novelists from Maryland

Category:People from Bowie, Maryland

Category:21st-century American male writers