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Sam Henderson was in the second day of rehearsals Aug. 9 for Lantern Theater Co.’s current production, “New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656.” That same day his second child, Katherine, was born.
“I was doing [the Philadelphia Fringe Festival show ‘The Aliens’] at night and rehearsals for ‘New Jerusalem’ during the day and my own [late night] Fringe show,” Henderson, 34, said. “People kept jumping out of [my show] ’cause I wasn’t paying them and, in retrospect, I think I’ve done all I’m capable of at this point.”
Though Henderson had to eventually cancel his own Fringe show, “Fun Thing,” due to the overwhelming
number of commitments, he is still working on the concept. But all of this has come only nine months after Henderson began acting again following a more-than-six-year hiatus during which he was focusing on music.
“The band broke up in February of this year, so I got back into acting. I dropped a headshot at Lantern [Theater Co.] and they said, ‘we’ve got a pretty good play for you,’ and I came in and they were right,” he said.
The play is “New Jerusalem,” which, Henderson said, is the best-selling show by far for the company and has been extended through Nov. 12 at Center City’s St. Stephen’s Theater. Henderson plays Baruch de Spinoza, a 17th century philosopher who fled Portugal to go to Amsterdam and was excommunicated at age 23 by the Jewish faith because of his radical ideas.
“He has a lot to say; it’s a long play. But I’m apparently doing a good job with people accepting that I’m 23 and extremely intelligent,” he said. “Almost all the shows are completely sold out. It’s very crazy.
“There are a lot of Jewish groups that go and philosophy fanatics … It’s courtroom drama — everyone loves it. We’re killing with it, ripping up the town with it.”
Despite the long break, being back now feels like old hat for Henderson, especially with this production. His debut Fringe performance was not quite as smooth.
“‘Aliens’ almost broke me. That was hard, that’s a hard play,” Henderson said. “People hated it and like really hated it. The character I was playing was mentally ill. But by the time it opened I had gotten good and the show got really good the more we did it and people were freaking out.”
Since coming back on the scene, Henderson has had no problem filling his slate and already has shows lined up until next year. He feels this is a testament to the richness of the theater community in the area.
“I’m working all the damn time now and all I had to say is, ‘I’m working,’” he said.
Born in Florida, a young Henderson and his family moved to Marietta, Ga., where he felt restless in academia. By age 20, he was filling days working in a supermarket.
“One morning [a friend] just convinced me [to apply to University of the Arts],” he said. I didn’t want to work in a grocery store, I knew that. I was pretty sure there was nothing academically I was going to like, ever. So I said ‘ya, I’m an actor, sure.’”
He sent in the application and found out two weeks before the start of classes he had been accepted into the acting program, which he attended from 1995 to ’99.
“When I moved here in 1995 you could do whatever you wanted cause there was no reason to be here and people weren’t pretending there was a reason to be here,” he said. “There was a huge dance scene — Fringe came out of that. I’d work on the shows and I thought they were the best.
“Theater was not actually all that exciting. But every year the season was twice as good and there were twice as many companies and it started to get really interesting.”
After graduating, Henderson worked as an actor in the area — with some distractions, including following his now-wife, Amy, to New York City for eight months — until 2004. That was when his side passion of music began to take center stage and he had to make a decision.
“We had all these tour dates and I had to drop out of this show I already agreed to do,” Henderson, who, at the time, was a keyboardist for the band Man Man, said. “I was really torn up about it, so I said, ‘OK, no more acting since I don’t know what I’ll be doing a month from now.’ And that’s pretty much how I lived from 2005 to [now].”
Over the time that Henderson focused on music, Man Man lost the majority of its members and a few remaining members formed a new band, Whales and Cops, which is the banner under which he played until the February fallout that left him band-less and led to his return to his craft.
“It’s great, it feels great [to be back to acting]. I’m older than I was and more something. It’s just not as hard as I remember it being,” he said.
Henderson and wife Amy — who also have a 2-year-old son, Maxwell — settled in their Lower Moyamensing home five years ago. Henderson loves the neighborhood and, of course, the special things that only South Philly residents can do.
“We are right across the corner from Pop’s, so I can go get Pop’s Water Ice and walk to the stadium and watch a game,” the Phillies fan said. “That is my favorite thing: I go get Pop’s and it’s like a seven-minute walk [to Citizens Bank Park], so I’m done when I get there. Then I watch a game, walk back and get Pop’s again.”
Now, Henderson is focusing all of his efforts on acting and making sure he gets fully immersed back in the Philadelphia theater community. However, he makes sure to keep things open for the distant future.
“I’m trying to work as much as possible; my kids have got to eat,” Henderson said. “I have outrageous plans, but I’m having a really wonderful time.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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