Talking with Dimonte Henning

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Photo by Tom Jenz

Dimonte Henning

Dimonte Henning

At only 28, Milwaukee native Dimonte Henning is directing Langston Hughes’ musical, Black Nativity, at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, Dec. 9-12. As a founding member of the Milwaukee Black Theater Festival, Dimonte is not only an actor and director, but also a singer. When I asked about his favorite singer, he blurted out, “Sam Cooke,” the king of R&B in the late 1950s and early ‘60s before he was shot and killed at 33.

We met at a Riverwest coffee shop for a stimulating conversation. Henning has a lot going for him, movie star looks, a dazzling smile, and a voice as easy as a soft breeze. When a thought struck him, his eyes switched on, and he’d lean forward like he could not wait to express it. And when he spoke of theater as art, his words got up and walked.

For a fairly young performer and creator, you have accomplished a lot. How did you first get interested in acting and theater?

I grew up on the North Side off Capital Drive, went to a private Catholic school, Mary Queen of Martyrs, now known as Blessed Savior. When I was a little kid, I was a wrestling fan. I made my own wrestling arena in the family basement. I’d cut up my mom’s blankets and make curtains, and I used a mattress for the ring mat. I think that was my creative beginning.

In sixth grade is when I got really interested in the arts. I enrolled in the summer theater program at Dominican High School. We learned the basics of musical theater, how to stand, how to sing, how to use breath control, then we’d put on a show. I acted in that theater program for two summers. When I was 14, my mom got me an audition for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Milwaukee Youth Theater. I got the part of Schroeder. I was hooked. That break launched my acting career, and I haven’t taken a year off since. I did my freshman year at Riverside High School and then went to Milwaukee High School of the Arts as a theater major and acted in several shows. I learned a lot about theater at MHSA. Great teachers. For college, I went to UWM in the theater program.  

Were you acting professionally while in college at UWM?

Yeah, I was getting professional gigs. When the Milwaukee Rep announced their 2015-16 season, their season had a lot of good parts. I made a tough decision. I quit college and pursued acting as a full-time career. In the Rep’s EPR [early career professional] program is where I got my real-life training. That season, we did Dream Girls, Of Mice and Men, The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie and other shows. 

We got to showcase our work in front of agents in Chicago. Eventually, I got a part on the network TV series, “Chicago PD.” After I finished the EPR program at the Milwaukee Rep, I realized I needed to pursue acting full time. Being a full-time actor can be a struggle, but I have faith in myself. Been doing this for six years now.  

What is it about being a performer, an entertainer, that you like so much?

It’s the feeling that I get when I myself am entertained. I remember watching awards shows, concerts, movies and feeling the inspiration, the excitement. I want to give that same feeling to an audience.  

I’ve directed actors in corporate films and TV commercials for a good part of my career, and I’ve tried to help actors know the difference between acting for theater and acting for the camera. There’s a big difference.

I remember my first on-camera audition for the “Chicago Fire” TV series, and I had to be holding a gun. I was waving that gun around, and the casting agent was telling me, “Pull it back.” I had to learn what they meant by that. This lesson taught me that in theater you are performing for hundreds of people. In film, you are performing for the camera, an intimate medium.  

When acting for the camera, so much emotion can be conveyed subtly, through a change of facial expression or a body movement.

Yes, the acting styles are different between film and theater. I started practicing on my camera phone. Theater was my introduction to acting, but I had to learn film acting, too.

You run an organization, Lights! Camera! Soul! You describe it as “a mission to bring theater to Black youth.” How have you gone about that?

In 2012, I was at a family theater event, and there were no young people there. That got me started on Lights! Camera! Soul! and I helped found that organization in 2013. The goal is to bring more Black theater to not only our youth but also adults who want to get into acting. Our biggest mission is to showcase Black narratives. We started off as a student organization at UWM and Alverno College. In 2015, we became a non-profit, and we increased donations and funding revenue. We offer acting classes and opportunities for acting roles. Currently, we have a story-telling podcast called “Blacker The Berry” which showcases the narratives and ideas of Black artists. We’ve done 18 podcasts so far. All are available on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and all other streaming platforms.

Blacker The Berry can be accessed at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blacker-the-berry/id1485020635

Let’s talk about Black Nativity, the Langston Hughes musical you are directing at the Marcus theater. Tell me all about your approach.

Black Nativity is the traditional story of the birth of Jesus Christ told through the Black lens. We have an all-Black cast, all Black creative team. Gospel music is a huge influence in this show. Gospel music goes back to the slavery days and Negro spirituals, our only connection to God during those times when Blacks were oppressed. Black people still use Gospel music to get through difficult times. There’s a song called “My Way is Cloudy,” which encapsulates what Mary and Joseph were going through when looking for a place to give birth to baby Jesus.

In Black Nativity, we take the audience on a journey through the birth of Jesus. Besides music, we have poetry and choreography that uplifts the story even more. But what is really unique is what I call “Bethlehem Milwaukee” because our play takes place in Milwaukee. The audience will recognize Milwaukee landmarks and public artwork. We want Milwaukee to feel uplifted. Community is one of the messages of our performance.

This year’s theme is “for the culture,” and that means to be unapologetically Black—who we are as Black people in our music, our dance, our style. Our music director is Antoine Reynolds. He has arranged all of the songs to be more contemporary but still with a gospel feel. Yet we still honor the playwright Langston Hughes, and his dialog.  

Black Nativity has been performed in Milwaukee for the past six years. How will this year’s play be different?

For anyone who has seen the Black Nativity play before, ours is a brand-new production. We have new costumes, new music band, new orchestra, new choreography and a new director, me.  

Moving on to a broader topic, I’ve had a lot of experience in the central city, talking to Black residents, street leaders and politicians, writing about them and their issues. The central city is struggling in all areas—economics, infrastructure, crime, single parent homes, domestic abuse, reckless driving—and of course, the lack of quality education. You come at this cultural problem through the views of an artist.

Probably the biggest issue for Milwaukee is segregation and poverty. White or Black or other people of color, we all have an obligation that our neighborhoods and communities function well regardless of where we live. Part of my job as an actor is that I use my art as activism. I try not to do things that contradict my own morals. Art is expression. Art has the power to make change. It can make people uncomfortable, but that is how to create change. For example, in theater, you can hold a mirror up to the audience and say this is what life is, and this is how you treat people for good or for bad. 

Milwaukee and the nation have been embroiled in the topic of racism including diversity and social injustice. On the troubling issue of racism, I’m thinking that maybe productive Black artists like yourself can help in some way, help heal the divide between races through creative performance art. 

Media plays a huge role in misleading the public to think that crime only happens on the NorthSside, the central city. That’s not true. I’d like to see more people from the suburbs spend time in the inner city. One place to start is the Sherman-Phoenix on 36th and Fond du Lac, a gathering place for people to have coffee, eat and talk, and feel like we are all a community in Milwaukee. I’d like to see more of these community gathering places in our city. Social interaction connects people. If I know you, I’ll be ten more times likely to look out for you.  

I’ve found that it is very difficult for middle class white folks to come into the inner city and talk to Blacks—even at the Sherman Phoenix venue. They might support Black Lives Matter, but they won’t get involved in everyday Black lives.

That is a great point, and I think art has a good way of bridging that divide. We can all sit back and watch a play or a movie and talk about it afterwards. 

A good play or movie or even a live music performance sticks with you for a long time, and you end up discussing the issues with other people who have seen them.

Absolutely. This past summer, there was a phenomenal play at the Milwaukee Black Theater Festival called White Privilege written by Malaina Moore. Afterward, actors and audience members sat around and talked, shared our life’s experiences, Black and white. Art can bridge the racial gap.

You have a bright future in the performing arts. What are your long-term goals? Chicago? LA? New York?

At some point, I’d like to move on, but I want to leave something behind for the next generation so that Milwaukee performing arts can be greater than when I first started. I want to be an advocate for the arts.

Tickets for the Black Nativity musical are now on-sale at the Marcus Center of Performing Arts. Performance dates are Dec. 9-12.