09/16/2011 – by Cynthia Wright
E. Patrick Johnson’s Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the Southmakes its first solo show performance September 13th at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA.
Sweet Tea Poster
In a special limited engagement that lasts until October 9th, Signature is presenting the DC première of the multi-character show inspired by Johnson’s award-winning book.
Directed by Rajendra Maharaj, Sweet Tea provides life stories from gay black men of all ages who were bn and raised in the South. The play is also inspired by Johnson’s personal journey about being a minority within a minority.
Johnson stated:
“I am overjoyed about bringing Sweet Tea to Signature and the DC/NOVA area. In many ways, opening the show at Signature is like a homecoming, because the impetus for writing the book came from a gathering sponsored by US Helping US, People Into Living, Inc., a black HIV/AIDS outreach group based in DC. It was at that gathering in 1995 that the tales by older black men encouraged me to collect the stories of as many black men of the South as I could so that there could be a living archive for generations to come. It’s an honor for me to bring these stories back ‘home’ to where it all began.”
Sweet Tea is produced through special arrangement with Jane M. Saks.
For tickets and information about this and other productions at the Tony Award-honored Signature Theatre, visit www.signature-theatre.org.