Fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, boyfriends — all of them are male, all of them are being honored this Sunday at the African-American Theatre Ensemble’s annual “Tribute to Black Men.”

“(Black men) are there for us when we need them,” says director Erika Bennett. “They’re our study partners, they’re our friends, they’re our boyfriends, they’re the people who we can call at night when we’re having guy troubles and can’t go to our girls.

“The show is just really thanking them for being so strong and supportive, not only on Northwestern’s campus, but also in life,” the Communication senior continues.

About 50 women are involved in this year’s show: behind the scenes as writers, choreographers and crew members and on stage as dancers, actors and singers. Bennett says the group tried to e-mail every black female on campus with an invitation to participate.

“I obtained a list of the majority of the black students, over 700 black students, and then my co-director (Communication senior Courtney Stewart) and I went through and highlighted every single girl on the list,” Bennett says. “Our goal was to contact each and every girl, and our hope is that we did.”

The participants created a variety-type show, with poems, original skits, dances and songs strung together under a unifying theme. The theme is kept a surprise from their counterparts in “Tribute to Black Women,” which went up last Sunday.

Directed by Education senior Langston Hughes, “Tribute to Black Women” based their theme, “Coming to Northwestern,” on the 1988 Eddie Murphy movie “Coming to America.” The 25 or so performers created a film splicing scenes from the movie with scenes from NU.

Bennett says she looks forward to “Tribute to Black Women” every year, and she was especially touched this year because it is her last year as an undergraduate. To Bennett and her fellow seniors, the show is like a last hurrah.

“From the moment the show opened to the moment it ended, a smile never left my face,” Bennett says. “I was so impressed with the work and energy and care that were taken with each and every skit, every poem, every word that was spoken, and every dance move. Each and every woman walked out of there feeling loved and appreciated.”

According to “Tribute to Black Women” producer Gilles Lezi, the shows began as a way to show the importance of the black community. Lezi, a Weinberg senior, says at a university with a high level of academics, students “normally don’t have time to say thank you to our black women and to our black men.”

For both Bennett and Lezi, the shows have an added goal of uniting the black community.

“It not only honors black men, but it’s a way for black women to get together and show support for one another and build community,” Bennett says of her show.