Vulnerable teens and self-confident transgender persons come to life through the body of scholar/artist E. Patrick Johnson in his solo show, “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South.” Johnson, who interviewed the subjects he portrays, will be bringing his show to the Mickee Faust Clubhouse, 623 McDonnell Drive in Railroad Square, Friday and Saturday, March 22 and 23 at 8 pm.
“Sweet Tea” takes the audience inside the lives and culture of a minority-within-a-minority. The show is punctuated with humor, hope, perceptions and angst. It challenges stereotypes and opens the door to see not only what it means to be gay and black, but what it means to be Southern. As a native of Hickory, NC, Mr. Johnson knows this particular trinity of identity well and shares his own story in the performance.
“Patrick has toured this show all over the country,” said Dr. Donna Marie Nudd, executive director and co-founder of the Mickee Faust Club. “I can’t say how happy we are to host him here in our little Southern city.”
Tickets to “Sweet Tea” are available through the Mickee Faust Club’s website, mickeefaust.com, or at the door on the nights of the show. Doors open at 7:30pm. The cost is $15 general admission; $10 for retirees, and people with disabilities. The show is free for students with an ID.
In addition to the two performances, E. Patrick Johnson will give a lecture, “In Search of Countess Vivian: Queerness and the Making of Southern History,” at 12:30pm, Friday, March 22nd at the Mickee Faust Club in Railroad Square. The lecture is free and open to the public.
E. Patrick Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University and an Artistic Fellow at the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College in Chicago. This performance of “Sweet Tea” is made possible through a grant from South Arts, with additional support from the Mickee Faust Club, FSU School of Communication and FSU’s Pride Student Union.