Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with professor E. Patrick Johnson to talk about his play Sweet Tea. Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University.
Sweet Tea was published as a book in 2011. At the time, Amazon described it this way:
Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, Sweet Tea collects more than sixty life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as 'backward' or 'repressive' and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners—often in spaces and activities that appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.
The stage version of Sweet Tea will be touring this spring at Williams College, Morehouse College, Spelman College and Brown University.
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