Race, Sexual Orientation and Regional Issues Explored in Performance Piece

Yale University will host a performance of “Pouring Tea: Narratives of Black Gay Men of the South” on February 26 at 6 p.m. in Nick Chapel, Trumbull College, 241 Elm St.

This performance is free and the public is welcome. Seating is limited. For reservations, go to www.yale.edu/wpp/reservations.php.

“Pouring Tea: Narratives of Black Gay Men of the South” is a one-man presentation by E. Patrick Johnson, chair of Performance Studies and associate professor in African American Studies at Northwestern University. It is based on Johnson’s oral history interviews with 75 African American gay and transgendered Southerners.

Johnson is the author of “Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity” (Duke University Press, 2003) and co-editor of “Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology” (Duke University Press, 2005), and has published numerous articles on race, sexuality and performance. His best-known performance piece, “Strange Fruit,” an exploration of racial and gender identity, has been staged at more than 20 colleges and universities.

This program has been organized by the Yale Research Initiative on the History of Sexualities, a new program based in Yale’s Department of History, which fosters research and theoretical reflection of the history of sexuality, especially from a transnational perspective. It is co-sponsored by the Department of African American Studies and the World Performance Project (WPP). The WPP promotes research in performance across the disciplines, assisting and collaborating with departments and programs throughout the university seeking to enhance their curriculum through live performance.