Pouring Tea
Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales
Johnson developed this dramatic reading based on the oral histories collected in his book, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History, published by the University of North Carolina Press. The oral histories are from black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93 who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. Johnson’s performance inspired his full-length script, Sweet Tea—A Play. Both works dive into the complexities of coming of age in the south, focusing on religion, sex, transgenderism, love stories, and coming out. In his dramatic reading, Johnson embodied the stories of people collected in his book. For several years, the show toured college campuses and was performed for numerous community groups and special events.
Reviews
Johnson … manages to vividly evoke the presence of seven individuals. The enactment of their stories of growing up black and gay in the South, as ‘co-performatively interpreted’ (Johnson’s phrase) by an openly black gay man born in the South, constitutes a profound critique of racism, sexism, and homophobia in our culture.
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Though many of the segments were funny, all of them dealt with some component of internal or external distress—each person had to reconcile with being gay in a community that would not accept them. As one interviewee said, ‘We don’t hate gay people. We hate people we think are gay.’ Repression and denial were common themes, detailing how people changed—or ‘tailored’, as Stephen said—themselves to become more socially acceptable.
AIDS was another prevalent issue: Dinaux talked about how ‘lying was death in the African American community’, because no one wanted to admit they were gay and had AIDS, and Duncan T. claimed that ‘they have not recognized it as a problem.’ Other interviews dealt with the issue of homosexuality and the church; for one segment, Johnson wore a choir robe and sang a gospel song. In another, Chaz Chastity accused people of hiding behind the church rather than ‘seeking a personal relationship with God.’
Despite the struggles, each monologue ended with a hopeful message; as Duncan finished, ‘I have no regrets, for you see, I am black. I am gay. I am the South.'”
— Cheryl Black, Associate Professor, Department of Theatre, University of Missouri, in “Thrice-Told Tales: Pouring Tea as Performance Ethnography,” Storytelling, Self, Society: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Storytelling Studies, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2012
In what were often both uproariously funny and tragically emotional performances, Johnson gave his audience a unique taste of what it means and what it might feel like to experience the particular hardships facing southern gay black men. His readings exemplified the affective power of performance on rights-bearing discourse – a medium that simultaneously enriches and informs public knowledge of minority experiences.
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Though many of the segments were funny, all of them dealt with some component of internal or external distress—each person had to reconcile with being gay in a community that would not accept them. As one interviewee said, ‘We don’t hate gay people. We hate people we think are gay.’ Repression and denial were common themes, detailing how people changed—or ‘tailored’, as Stephen said—themselves to become more socially acceptable.
AIDS was another prevalent issue: Dinaux talked about how ‘lying was death in the African American community’, because no one wanted to admit they were gay and had AIDS, and Duncan T. claimed that ‘they have not recognized it as a problem.’ Other interviews dealt with the issue of homosexuality and the church; for one segment, Johnson wore a choir robe and sang a gospel song. In another, Chaz Chastity accused people of hiding behind the church rather than ‘seeking a personal relationship with God.’
Despite the struggles, each monologue ended with a hopeful message; as Duncan finished, ‘I have no regrets, for you see, I am black. I am gay. I am the South.'”
–Rice University Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, 2011
[T]he audience …gave Johnson a standing ovation at the end of his performance. Adrian Evans ’15 commented, ‘I liked how good of an actor he was. I thought his accents were on point.’ She added, ‘It was cool that he was doing it about the South where I (personally) know a lot of people who are repressed. That stuff definitely goes on.’ Leah Miller ’14 said, ‘It was really impressive that he took the time to learn their stories and their accents. It went from really touching to really horrifying at times. I thought it was really well done.’
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Though many of the segments were funny, all of them dealt with some component of internal or external distress—each person had to reconcile with being gay in a community that would not accept them. As one interviewee said, ‘We don’t hate gay people. We hate people we think are gay.’ Repression and denial were common themes, detailing how people changed—or ‘tailored’, as Stephen said—themselves to become more socially acceptable.
AIDS was another prevalent issue: Dinaux talked about how ‘lying was death in the African American community’, because no one wanted to admit they were gay and had AIDS, and Duncan T. claimed that ‘they have not recognized it as a problem.’ Other interviews dealt with the issue of homosexuality and the church; for one segment, Johnson wore a choir robe and sang a gospel song. In another, Chaz Chastity accused people of hiding behind the church rather than ‘seeking a personal relationship with God.’
Despite the struggles, each monologue ended with a hopeful message; as Duncan finished, ‘I have no regrets, for you see, I am black. I am gay. I am the South.'”
— Meri St. Jean, “Writer Gives Voice to Gay Black Men” The Dickinsonian, February 29, 2012
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