“Put a Little Honey in my Sweet Tea” is a performance is based on the oral histories of LGBTQ southerners that E. Patrick Johnson has collected over the past two decades. Focusing on marginalized individuals based on their racial, sexual, gender, and regional identity, Johnson elevates these voices by embodying their stories, moving them from margin to center. 

It is free and open to the public.

E. Patrick Johnson is Dean of the School of Communication and Annenberg University Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. He is a 2020 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  He has additional appointments in the Gender and Sexuality Studies and American Studies programs. A scholar/artist, Johnson performs nationally and internationally and has published widely in the areas of race, gender, sexuality and performance. Johnson is a prolific performer and scholar, and an inspiring teacher, whose research and artistry has greatly impacted African American studies, Performance studies, and Gender and Sexuality studies. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of several award-winning books, including his most recent two: “Black. Queer. Southern. Women.—An Oral History” (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) and, “Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women” (Duke UP, 2019). 

Johnson’s performance work dovetails with his written work. His staged reading, “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales” is based on his book, “Sweet Tea,” and has toured to more than 100 college campuses from 2006 to the present, and his full-length stage play, “Sweet Tea—The Play,” premiered in Chicago and toured to Austin, Texas, Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, Providence, Rhode Island, Durham, North Carolina and the National Black Theater Festival.