When Marcus Henderson left St. Louis for Alabama State University in Montgomery back in 2004, he didn’t even know what a monologue was.
Four years later he was selected out of a pool of 1,500 student actors to enter one of the most prestigious graduate acting programs in the world – the Yale School of Drama.
“I started right here in this very building,” Henderson said, walking towards the teachers’ lounge of Fairview Elementary in the Jennings Public School District, where he worked a summer job as a custodian.
“I did my first play in the first grade, and we did Three Little Pigs,” Henderson said with a grin. “I was the pig who built his house with sticks.”
While the experience of his first play would leave a lasting impression, he soon abandoned the stage for athletics. His journey back to acting is improbable to say the least.
Henderson charged onto the field for a successful high school and college football career with a scholarship from Alabama State University.
It was a chance encounter while walking home after practice that would forever change the course of Henderson’s career path and personal passion.
“My friend and I saw the audition sign and said, ‘Let’s go over there,’” Henderson said.
“We went over, and I went in and took a number and they took us to different stations. The first was the acting station – I didn’t know what a monologue was, so they told me to just tell a story.”
Henderson told his story and became so enraged as he reflected on the particular incident that the judges laughed hysterically.
“I noticed right then that I could grab people’s attention,” Henderson said. “And that’s how it got started.”
His affiliation with Alabama State’s Theatre Department wasn’t an overnight success. He began by doing the gruntwork of the theatre – set painting, cleanup and stagehand labor – for the remainder of his freshman year.
His sophomore year, a need for “manly men” in the school’s rendition of West Side Story gave him his first taste of center stage, and there was no looking back.
“It taught me a lot,” Henderson said. “That was the first time I noticed how seriously some people take the craft.”
He began to work more closely and intensely with the theatre department, forming a special bond with program director Dr. Tommie “Toneo” Stewart.
“Dr. Stewart makes a way out of no way for every student that comes out of that department,” Henderson said.
Stewart’s links as an actor led him to develop the same connection with award-winning actor/director and Yale Drama alum Charles S. Dutton.
Dutton performed his one-man show From Jail to Yale as a special benefit for the school. He also played a part in Henderson’s earning a role as an extra in the film Honeydripper starring Dutton, Danny Glover, Vonde Curtis Hall and a host of other A-list African-American actors.
“In college I just took advantage of opportunity, and that is one thing that the students need to know,” Henderson said. “If you do that, your goals, dreams and everything are limitless.”
Dutton also wrote Henderson’s letter of recommendation and presented the youth to his alma mater as Dutton’s protégé.
For the next three years, Henderson will be in Connecticut working towards a performing arts career. Because of the adrenaline rush he gets on stage – similar to being on the playing field – he has a preference for stage acting over film.
He said he plans to return to Jennings one day to coach the Warriors football team and to nurture the talents of the children in the community. Henderson said he will spend the year working on grants so he can open a performing arts camp when he returns home next summer.
“There is a need right now in my community,” Henderson said. “They need positive influences.”
He was himself blessed to have positive influences in his parents, Leon and Barbara Henderson.
“I’m not just doing it for me – I’m doing it for my city, my school, my elders and my family,” Henderson said of his journey to Yale.
“It’s humbling to know that one day I can come back and be a positive influence on the children that walk these very halls that I walked.”
