As the second largest city in New York State, Buffalo has one of the most diverse theater communities outside of New York City. From Broadway hits to small, community-style theater, you can find it all in downtown’s Theater District. In this week's Press Pass conversation, WBFO's Eileen Buckley and Buffalo News reporter Brian Meyer discuss how Buffalo has developed a distinguished theater legacy.
Meyer produces In Focus on-line interviews for the Buffalo News. He shares a conversation with Tony-nominated actor Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Henderson is appearing on Broadway in "A Raisin in the Sun." But he also remains in the Buffalo community, serving as a theater professor at the University at Buffalo.
While he does mainly stage acting, his resume includes his work in the Oscar-nominated film Lincoln.
Tony-nominated actor Stephen McKinley Henderson talks with Buffalo News reporter Brian Meyer for an In Focus interview.
Credit CrePhoto from Buffalo News In Focus interview
Here is an excerpt of Meyer's conversation with Henderson:
Meyer: Let’s talk a little about your career ... nominated for a Tony in “Fences.” You were in the film “Lincoln,” and (currently on Broadway) in “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Henderson: Meeting and working with the playwright August Wilson activated my entire file all the way back to 1968 when I first left Kansas City and went to New York City. I had been doing it for quite a while. But when I started working with (Wilson) in ’96, everything that I had done up until that point suddenly had a microscope put on it, and they found that I had been doing some rather important work in regional theater across the country.