Today we’d like to introduce you to Jerrell L. Henderson

Hi Jerrell L., thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

I took my first steps onto a stage with The (New) Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. when I was about seven years old. From there, I spent most of my childhood, adolesence, teenage years singing in choirs and performing in church and community productions. Without question one of the coolest experiences was performing at the Philadelphia Academy of Music with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops.

Undergrad saw me complete a BA in Theatre Arts (Performance) while simulatanously deep diving into all topics related to Black Theatre and Film history. During this time I also began to dabble in writing and directing.

Once graduated I worked, on and off, with Walnut Street Theatre’s education department in Philly for roughly eight to nine years. This was the period in which I would shift from performer to primarily teacher. This is also the period in which I began to professionally direct. I am eternally grateful to my former boss, the director of the education department, for seeing a director within me. Through consistent directing assignments over the course of years, she provided opportunities for me to succeed as well as get it wrong. Once each production was mounted, no matter how the process had gone, she would invite me to question what about the process worked and what didn’t. This was invaluable.

I began to seek opportunities to direct outside of Walnut Street’s education department. I found an opportunity with Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ annual monologue festival. I also found success directing Zooman and the Sign by Charles Fuller and In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks at Allens Lane Art Center, a community theatre just outside of center city Philadelphia. Wanting to be seen more as a director who teaches than a teacher who directs, I began to seek graduate school programs for theatrical directing. In the process of my search, and in an effort to break away from the familiar, I briefly moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey. While teaching for George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick and the McCarter in Princeton, I was able to form a relationship, including assistant directing, with Crossroads Theatre also in New Brunswick.

The summer of 2012, I participated in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and in the fall of 2012, I began Northwestern University’s MFA Directing program. The move to Chicago (technically Evanston, IL.) signaled the beginning of the second half of my life. Upon completing the program in 2015, I have spent the bulk of my time working as a freelance director while teaching at a few colleges and universities. While I am still pursuing dreams and goals, without question, my current life is a harvest of the seeds I began planting during my time in Philly.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

The road has not been smooth. A handful of challenges include but are not limited to: Racism and poverty in general, the racism of low expectations, general indifference to lack of institutional support and funding, depression, physical illness, navigating popular myths and half-truths within the industry (i.e. We need to see your work to work with you, We cannot consider hiring you until you have been following up with us for ten or more years – with no specific guarantee of work after said time has past, etc.). It is not that these example statements are untrue. They can be true. They’re just not the only truth. Not even close. Finally and most unfortunately, institutional power often habor leaders who traffic in severely predatory behavior. Not only does this present very real challenges in real time, speaking up about the behavior (or not) can yield major obstacles for years to come.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

My creative work primarily revolves around theatrical direction. I am a life long lover of theatre and my experience in the profession has taught me that I have A LOT more fun in the directors chair than I do performing for an audience. Through theatre I seek to disrupt generational curses of self-hate (i.e. racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, etc.). Intellectually curious and emotionally dexterous, I am at home in a number of wide-ranging genres including, but not limited to, American Realism, Magical Realism, Traditional and Contemporary Musical Theatre, Poetic Black-Queer Narratives, and Live Spectacle Events. I am always reading, always absorbing, always training so that, at any given time, I am prepared to direct stories which interests me.

When gearing up for a production, I enjoy creating a working analysis which helps me distill my ideas even as I am in conversation with producers, designers, and eventually performers. I look to leave no stone unturned in my attempt to understand the characters and how they make their way through the overall story. This approach means that I arrive in the rehearsal room with grounded ideas which allow us all to play with purpose. Through guided and informed play, I seek to create a clear/dynamic production in which everyone on the team feels invested and proud. That’s the overall goal.

In recent years, I have begun to work as a puppeteer. I am still very much defining what the form means to me, my art, and my process. What attracts me to the form is the ability to play within pure metaphor in terms of storytelling. As much as I love language in general and poetic language specifically, there are scores of things I want to communicate which are impossible to put into words. Puppetry allows for another way to access those points within me.

Outside of theatre direction, one of my great loves has been creating and curating black_theatre_vinyl_archive on Instagram. black_theatre_vinyl_archive is an extensive collection of vinyl albums which highlight the contributions of members of the African Diaspora in Theatre/Musical Theatre History. My Instagram page is also an opportunity to celebrate my history as well as provide a safe space for others who love the form of Theatre/Musical Theatre and all that has meant over the ages as much as I do.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

The Covid-19 crisis revealed how privileged I was in that I had a job which allowed me to work from home. I would say that era helped reframe how I see and speak about privilege. Besides that, the lock down, while eliminating options for live theatre, became an opportunity to explore alternative forms of expression. Puppetry and my black_theatre_vinyl_archive page came alive and I learned to pay a bit more attention to what I have inside of me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jerrell-henderson.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/directnu15/, https://www.instagram.com/black_theatre_vinyl_archive/

Image Credits

AmericanMyth: Crossroads with Free Street Theatre, Chicago, Il, photo by Jerrell L. Henderson
Ragtime with Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Arlington Heights, IL, photo by Jennifer Heim
The Prodigal Daughter with Raven Theatre, Chicago, IL, photos by Michael Brosilow
Blues for an Alabama Sky with Virginia Stage Company, Norfolk, VA, photo by Sam Flint
Constellations with Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, MA, photo by Bill Kuykendall
black_theatre_vinyl_archive, photos by Jerrell L. Henderson