E. Patrick Johnson, performer and chair of Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies, discusses SWEET TEA.
When I began on the journey to collect life histories of black gay men of the South, never did I imagine how the manifestation of that journey would, as Duncan Teague would say, “kick up so much dust.” SWEET TEA has changed my life in so many profound ways that I am rendered mute, for to try to encapsulate in words the impact of these men’s lives on my own life would be futile. They haunt me, tease me, comfort me, embolden me, chastise me, inhabit me—all at once. To be able to allow an audience to witness our communion on stage is such a gift—to me, to the men, and to the audience. My journey to creating SWEET TEA might have started six years ago, but it is far from over.
