Moshe Henderson is a queer Filipino American stage director, actor, singer, playwright, casting director, and producer living in Brooklyn. He studies acting at HB Studio and playwriting with Eduardo Machado. Moshe’s first full-length play Velvet Rage: A Queer-Ass Play was featured in PrideFest at The Tank. Select directing credits: A Foray In Innocence (NYTF Best Director Nomination), E.G.G., Dog Sees God, Prairie Fire, Spring Awakening: The Musical, Les Blancs, and Crazy Meshuge Hurricane Earthquake. Select regional acting credits: Frank/Paul/Gerald Standby (Not About Me by Eduardo Machado), John (Art & Money), David (Torch Song Trilogy), Angel (Rent), Peter (The Diary of Anne Frank) and Luis/Lazar (Runaways). From Seattle, he attended Cornish College for Musical Theatre and started the theatre company Basement Theatrics. He is currently Venue Manager and a Casting Coordinator at HB Studio. Casting credits include the new musical When We Get There starring Broadway’s Q Smith.
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Upcoming Projects
Past Events
January 13 thru February 5, 2023
Moshe is Standby for the roles of Frank, Paul, and Gerald in the premiere of a new play by Eduardo Machado at Theater for the New City. Buy tickets HERE.
Moshe on Directing Premiere of E.G.G. by Emile Lacheny
Back in July 2022, Emile asked me how I would approach staging this apocalyptic play within the given parameters of this Festival. We aren’t allowed a set and we can only bring minimal props. So, first I thought of bringing the audience onstage to alter the shape of the playing space and to create the cave. But then I thought: no, not with current Covid practices in place. So I sat with the script some more and read a piece of dialogue suggesting there were bodies leftover in the cave. And that sparked an idea: what if we used an Ensemble to represent those who lived in the cave before? These would be the “ghosts of civilization.” But how would we establish their presence without upstaging our Leading Players? And I was reminded of the ensemble-driven work I did on the practices of Tadashi Suzuki.
“The principle concern of the Suzuki Method is with restoring the wholeness of the human body to the theatrical context and uncovering the actor’s innate expressive abilities. Attention is on the lower body and a vocabulary of footwork, sharpening the actor’s breath control and concentration.” And through such disciplinary practices, Suzuki had tens of people moving in-sync together across the stage, creating tempo and tension in the theater.
And that was my proposal: to cast a “Suzuki-Inspired” Ensemble that would create the shape and atmosphere of this cave. And not only would they create cavernous formations and the famously referred to “spirals,” but they would also create the sounds of this grotto, whether it be from the Suzuki marches or from tongue-clicks to replicate the water dripping from stalactites.
And now that the stage is set with our Ensemble endowing the atmosphere of these apocalyptic circumstances, we have an EGG. What do you think is in it? I hope you will leave this show with strong opinions and that it will invite compelling conversation. This piece presents tremendous circumstances, but I’m sure you will find its relevance. It’s political, it’s high stakes, and it’s enthralling.