Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Actor, director, and educator Stephen McKinley Henderson could also be finest recognized within the theatre for his performing in a lot of August Wilson’s performs, however his résumé in all mediums is past spectacular. Currently he’s reprising the function of Walter “Pops” Washington in Between Riverside and Crazy within the present’s Broadway run—a task playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis wrote expressly for him, and which he originated in an acclaimed 2014 manufacturing on the Atlantic Theater. Between Riverside and Crazy‘s opening evening is Dec. 19; the final two weeks of performances (Jan. 31-Feb. 12, 2023) can be live-streamed from the Helen Hayes Theatre.
This hard-working actor, who turned 73 in August, took outing between reveals to have a dialog with me.
NATHANIEL G. NESMITH: You have been born in Kansas City, Mo. What bought you concerned in performing throughout your early days?
STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON: I began out doing expertise reveals in grade faculty and pantomiming songs, at first alone after which with a bunch of fellows. We would work out routines to issues like “Mr. Custer” and “Monster Mash” and “Charlie Brown.” I changed into a lover of poetry in junior highschool, after which I bought to attend a terrific highschool, Sumner High School in Kansas City, Kans.; it had an unbelievable school and an extended custom of doing performs. The first play I did in highschool was due to a trainer, a stupendous lady who was a mentor of mine for years, Gloria Terrell. She requested me to play Karl Lindner in A Raisin within the Sun as a result of I used to be one of many fair-skinned Blacks within the all-Black highschool. I mentioned, “I don’t want to play the white man in A Raisin in the Sun!” She mentioned, “Well, you can get away with this because you’re cool. You got a name on the street; the guys know you, and the other light-skinned kids in the school would take a lot of ribbing and they wouldn’t survive this.” So I did that, after which I performed Helen Keller’s brother in The Miracle Worker.
Once I used to be a junior, they built-in the highschool, however not with white college students; they built-in it with white lecturers. Many of the lecturers who got here knew concerning the theatrical legacy. One wished to do Death of a Salesman, and I had probably the most expertise in performs of anyone within the faculty. He tagged me to do Willy Loman. I did that, after which The Most Happy Fella, an operetta; I don’t understand how I bought away with that, as a result of the music division had nice singers; they only wanted someone to play the primary character.
Sumner High School was one of many best coaching grounds I had. From there I went to Lincoln University, an traditionally Black faculty, the one based by the Black cavalry in Missouri.
What was it that you simply gained from your loved ones that helped you obtain skilled success?
Poetry was the factor, however I used to inform my brother, who was deaf, concerning the elements of films he couldn’t perceive. My brother might comply with the story and browse the lips of the actors, however he will need to have seen a patchwork of the film, so after we got here again from a film, he would ask me what was taking place off-camera; I might act it out for him.
I didn’t develop up with my mother and father. My mom was fairly younger when my brother was born, and he was deaf. By the time I used to be born, she wanted assist. She gave me away to this household after which my mom had two ladies. I grew up with this older couple, Mr. Benny and Ms. Irene Walton, who have been a godsend to me. Ms. Irene’s father was in Black vaudeville, and Ms. Irene knew all these vaudeville routines. She would educate me these routines after I stayed dwelling from faculty. She would regale me and my associates with tales of the Chitlin’ Circuit. Those tales actually excited me about that form of life, even among the scary tales about how the performers bought out of city simply in time when touring by the South.
You have been educated at numerous locations: Lincoln University, Juilliard, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Purdue. You additionally studied at Rose Bruford College in London and at William Esper Studio in New York City. Could you define the chronology of your coaching to change into an actor, and finally a director?
I went to Juilliard first and I bought disillusioned. New York City form of took me by storm after Kansas City. After a few years at Juilliard, I left and went to North Carolina School of the Arts. I used to be president of the scholar authorities and did some tasks there. Later, I got here again to provide the graduation handle at Juilliard and at North Carolina School of the Arts.
The summer season program on the School of the Arts led to Rose Bruford, the summer season learning in England. I then went to Purdue University graduate faculty. I used to be the director of the Black Culture Center and directed some reveals there.
Then I joined the Rep Theatre in St. Louis, at the moment the Loretto Hilton Repertory Theater, based by the Sisters of Loretto, with cash from Conrad Hilton. It is now often called the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. That’s the place I met Ron Himes, who runs the St. Louis Black Repertory Theatre.
What about William Esper?
My expensive buddy Harold Scott, who was a director, had headed the directing program at Rutgers for some time. He instructed me about Bill Esper, as a result of Bill headed the Mason Gross School after I got here to Rutgers to play Doaker in a manufacturing of The Piano Lesson. Bill requested me if I wish to examine the Meisner strategy and I mentioned sure. It was an intense summer season, but it surely was an exquisite expertise. By that point, I used to be additionally instructing in Buffalo. It reenergized my instructing, as a result of I used to be getting somewhat weary of the tutorial setting.
Then the subsequent time I had that very same little weariness of academe, I set to work with Lloyd Richards, due to Israel Hicks, who launched me. Working with Lloyd was the final examine I did, in my 50s, whereas working with August on Jitney.
You simply talked about the playwright you’re most likely most related to. How did you first come to work with August Wilson?
I had been working on the Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania, which Jean Stapleton and her husband, Bill Putch, ran. When I used to be driving again by Pittsburgh after doing The Boys Next Door in Pennsylvania, I met August by a serendipitous occasion. I bought to speak with him about his performs; I used to be about to play Bynum in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in Buffalo. After taking part in Bynum in Buffalo, after which Bono in Fences in Denver, I had an opportunity to get an audition for Jitney.
August form of remembered assembly me. He mentioned, “Oh, yeah, man, I think I remember you.” I then reminded him of a narrative he instructed me, and he mentioned, “Oh yeah, that was you, man. I told you that was my old girlfriend coming down around the corner, and we were on that corner.” Marion McClinton forged me to play Turnbo in Jitney. We did that present for six years (1996 to 2002). We went to London and August gained the Olivier Award for that manufacturing of Jitney.
I knew him till his premature loss of life. I really feel like my complete journey ready me to be prepared for Wilson’s unbelievable soldiering by the American theatre. I used to be simply glad to get on board and be part of these, as Kenny Leon calls them, Wilson warriors.
You simply talked about a number of of Wilson’s performs, and I do know you’ve got been on Broadway in a number of: Stool Pigeon in King Hedley II, which starred Charles Brown, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Leslie Uggams, Viola Davis, and—
And Monté Russell. Monté was an actor from Pittsburgh that went all over to Broadway with August. He was the primary younger blood in Jitney.
You additionally did Slow Drag within the 2003 revival of Ma Rainey, and have been nominated for a Tony for enjoying Bono within the Broadway revival of Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis; you all performed the identical roles within the Oscar-winning movie model too. How many productions of Wilson’s performs have you ever performed?
I’ve performed eight of his performs, and for a number of of them I’ve performed two roles, however in numerous productions. I’ve performed all however the first and the final performs within the cycle (Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf).
In the Village Voice, Michael Feingold wrote in his obituary of Mr. Wilson that “to think of the great characters and scenes in August’s plays is to think of an epic parade of great African American actors who have seized their moment to make theater history: James Earl Jones and Mary Alice in Fences, Charles S. Dutton in Ma Rainey and The Piano Lesson, S. Epatha Merkerson confronting him in the latter, Roscoe Lee Browne sagely ironic in Two Trains Running, Stephen McKinley Henderson oozing malice in Jitney, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Lisa Gay Hamilton glaring a skyful of weaponry at each other in Gem of the Ocean.” I ought to point out that Michael Feingold himself died not too long ago. What does it imply to you to be amongst these nice actors related to August Wilson?
It was a really eloquent obituary; it’s worthy of literary reward. It was each a humbling and prideful expertise to be talked about in that firm.
Death of a Salesman is now on Broadway with a Black Loman household. That was performed earlier than, although, together with at Yale Repertory in 2009, by which you performed Charley to Charles S. Dutton’s Willy Loman. What would you wish to share about that have?
It’s fantastic to see now how a lot Wendell Pierce’s manufacturing is being nicely obtained. When we did Death of a Salesman at Yale, there was some pushback about whether or not this ought to be taking place in any respect. There have been a number of Wilson actors in that manufacturing, and the critics wished to say, “You know, August wouldn’t be happy with that casting.” What they perceive at the moment is that with the fantastic performances of Black actors throughout city, and in every kind of reveals, the one purpose August mentioned he didn’t wish to be lifting American classics with an all-Black forged was as a result of they weren’t doing any works by Black playwrights. Now it’s an entire totally different area from when August did “The Ground on Which I Stand.”
Many folks solely know of you as an actor, however you’re additionally a director. Your New York directorial debut was Ali! in 1992, a play by Geoffrey C. Ewing and Graydon Royce. What was it that made you are feeling that you simply additionally needed to direct?
Well, I used to be requested to; that’s what occurred. Geoffrey was referred to me by a few different folks. Actually, I attempted to ship him to a different director I knew, who had been a detective and had been a boxer, Ed Smith. Ed didn’t have religion that Ali! might be profitable. It was not fairly there as a play but, however as soon as I met Geoffrey, I knew that it was attainable. Woodie King was the primary one who produced us, in Louisville, Ky. It was in ragtag kind, but it surely was profitable, after all, as a result of it was in Ali’s dwelling. Then we cloistered away and we constructed the play. We did it in London on the Mermaid Theatre, which was very profitable. Muhammad Ali and Henry Cooper, the good British champion, have been on the present one evening collectively. At the curtain name, Ali got here on stage to congratulate Geoffrey on his efficiency after which referred to as Henry Cooper to the stage, saying, “Come on, let’s fight again.” Then we did it on the Olympic Arts Festival in ’96, the place Ali lit the torch.
You’ve additionally been a theatre educator, and you’re the former chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance for the State University of New York at Buffalo. What did you achieve from being an expert actor that contributed to your profitable instructing profession?
I let you know what it’s: Harold Scott and Lloyd helped me with this. You have to seek out the identical pleasure and the identical achievement with instructing that you’ve got with performing. You’ll know when you’ve got achieved it—Edward Albee talks concerning the instructing emotion in Zoo Story. You know you’ve reached that when you find yourself as fulfilled by seeing that gentle come on in college students, serving to them arrive at a spot of enlightenment concerning the work. It appears like making an exquisite discovery of alternative in a task. I’ve had college students, a few of whom went into regulation and different professions, come again and inform me that it was in my class that they realized that they might make decisions, overcome obstacles, and see by to their goals.
As I used to be fascinated with what you’ve got performed, I began to consider you and Broadway and I noticed I had not solely seen you in these Wilson performs but additionally in Drowning Crow, A Raisin within the Sun, A Doll’s House, Part 2. You have been additionally in Dracula, the Musical, which I didn’t see. How have you ever managed to take action many Broadway reveals?
After I grew to become chair of the division at SUNY and began working with August, after I got here again I used to be in a position to get the dean to permit me to show one semester, then take one semester off in order that I might search for work. As it turned out, each time I had a semester off I bought a present or a movie, primarily a present, as a result of that was after I was primarily doing theatre. I used to be lucky, as a result of I had already taught for 18 years at SUNY with out a break; I had sabbaticals that allowed me to make some inroads with stage and movies. If the present or movie ran previous that semester, I might take a go away with out pay.
Stephen Adly Guirgis wrote the lead in Between Riverside and Crazy for you, and the Off-Broadway manufacturing in 2015 gained you an Obie. Looking again now, what are you able to share about that have?
Well, I’ll let you know: Be cautious what you want for! It has been an exquisite expertise to be with Stephen, beginning when he had solely 15 pages and Neil Pepe on the Atlantic Theater believed in these 15 pages. Neil stored the play going; he would deliver me in from Buffalo each couple of months to do a studying. I’m very grateful to Neil and the Atlantic, simply as I’m very grateful for James Houghton, who was the pinnacle of the Juilliard drama program and introduced me again there as a trainer.
It’s fairly a problem to come back again to one thing that you simply had such an exquisite expertise with. Usually the revival is one other manufacturing, one other group of individuals. But we grew to become a household, and now we’ve change into the LAByrinth Theater household. I really feel the identical about these actors as I did concerning the actors who have been in Jitney.
You, Elizabeth Canavan, Liza Colón-Zayas, Victor Almanzar, Michael Rispoli, and Rosal Colón have been all within the premiere on the Atlantic. Now rapper/actor Common is making his Broadway debut with all of you within the new manufacturing; he performs the not too long ago paroled son. How is having this new actor within the group altering the dynamic?
He’s bringing one thing that’s distinctive. We know him as Rashid, not as Common. Rashid is such a stupendous human being, splendidly compassionate. His humanity is what he brings to the sport, and his verve—he’s taking part in someone that’s not him in any respect. He’s welcome within the household. We all pray earlier than the present; he’s very non secular.
I need to point out Austin Pendleton, the unique director and nonetheless the director of the Broadway manufacturing.
Austin is an American theatre treasure; I first knew of him when he directed the manufacturing of Lillian Hellman’s Little Foxes the place Elizabeth Taylor had her Broadway debut. He and Stephen collaborate nicely.
Your spouse, Pamela Reed Henderson, to whom you’ve got been married since 1978, simply had surgical procedure earlier than the previews. How did you retain all of it collectively throughout this making an attempt time?
Because of her brother, she is recovering an increasing number of each day. It was due to her brother that I’ve been in a position to proceed to work in Between Riverside and Crazy, and our son got here in too. I might not have been in a position to proceed this manufacturing if it weren’t for my brother-in-law, Bill Reed.
What do you take into account to be your best contribution to theatre?
The work I did with Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Indira Etwaroo of the Billie Holiday Theatre, again once we did August Wilson’s 10-play cycle on the Greene Space. Ruben Santiago-Hudson was the inventive director, and I used to be his affiliate inventive director. Chadwick Boseman, Roger Robinson, Elain Graham, amongst others, have been a part of it. We did the performs for the colleges within the afternoon after which at evening we did it for the general public and broadcast it. The broadcasts are going to be archived and can be obtainable at a number of areas throughout the nation for examine, however they won’t be obtainable commercially, as we couldn’t presumably pay the actors at that fee.
You have the final phrase: What would you wish to share about Stephen McKinley Henderson that the world will finally come to know?
I similar to to maintain my secrets and techniques. Let them know that I’m not like Turnbo—I’m not a gossip. If you inform me one thing in personal, I’ll maintain on to it.
Nathaniel G. Nesmith (he/him) holds an MFA in playwriting and a Ph.D. in theatre from Columbia University.
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