Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For one night only, Pouring Tea recounts the hardships, happiness, and humor of being black and queer in the US South.  E. Patrick Johnson performs these oral histories live on stage, and covers such issues as transgenderism, coming out, life in the South, religion, love, and more. All the men embodied in this performance were born, reared, and continue to live in the US South, and range in age from 19 to 93.

E. Patrick Johnson is a performer, scholar, and activist, who has taught at Northwestern University for the past twelve years. Recently, he was honored with the Carlos Montezuma endowed chair of Performance Studies. He has published widely on race, gender, class, and performance. In 2010, he was inducted into the LGBT Chicago Hall of Fame as recognition for his contributions and activism on behalf of the LGBT community.

The performed oral histories come from E. Patrick Johnson’s book Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South. In his introduction, Johnson notes, “many of the stories of black queer life have gone undocumented.” His book and performance seek to fill this gap in Southern, queer, and black histories. By publishing a wealth of oral histories and embodying them onstage, Johnson endeavors to discredit the myth that being black and queer in the South is more difficult due to perceptions of racialized Southern culture and of black homophobic culture.

E. Patrick Johnson is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Theatre Arts, Department of Sociology, The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate and Student Professional Assembly, the Humanities Center, The Performance Collaborative, and the Duse Society.