Northwestern Prof. E. Patrick Johnson can become 13 different people in one single night, at least on stage.
“Sweet Tea,” a one-man play adapted from Johnson’s book, “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South,” was published in 2008. In the play, Johnson performs the narratives of 13 gay black men, embodying them down to their accents and physical movements.
“When I first started collecting the oral histories, I decided that these stories were so powerful and so compelling that they shouldn’t just remain on the page,” says Johnson, chairman of the performance studies department. “I met so many great storytellers, I decided they should be made into performances.”
And so they were. “Sweet Tea” opened April 29 at the Viaduct Theater and will run through May 29, with several performances already sold out. The show features Johnson seated on a stool, acting out the stories of the men he met during his travels throughout the South. For his book, Johnson interviewed more than 70 men in 15 different states. The play addresses themes such as discrimination, religion, transgenderism, love and relationships. But the play isn’t just about the lives of these men-Johnson’s own story is interwoven into theirs.
“The producers felt that what was so interesting about the material was my relationship with these men,” Johnson says. “They said, ‘But to really make this pop, we want your story. We want more of you.’ So I had to interview myself, asking myself some of the questions I had asked the men.”
Johnson is both gay and black himself, as well as from North Carolina. The play is his way of honoring these men, he says.
“I’m still overwhelmed by everything that has happened with this project,” Johnson says. “To be able to bring their stories to the stage means a great deal to me.”
Johnson teaches courses such as “Studies of Gender in Performance” and “Popular Culture in Performance,” as well as courses in the African American Studies department. He says he loves teaching and working with students and that he tries to provide them with a place where they can discuss difficult topics.
“I don’t believe that censorship is the most productive way to conduct a classroom,” he says. “I like people to say what they’re feeling, get it on the table and sort of work through it. It’s a more honest way of grappling with these larger issues that are not just academic concerns but part of who we are as human beings.”
When Johnson isn’t teaching, he also enjoys singing, mostly jazz and gospel music. Johnson says his favorite book is Toni Morrison’s “Sula,” because it speaks about the importance of friendship, a theme he finds invaluable.
“Your love for a person will ultimately get you through any trials or tribulations,” he says. “I’m very much a people person. The people in my life mean a lot to me.”
