By E. Patrick Johnson
Performed by Jamar Jones
Directed by Joseph Megel

Originally written and performed in 1999 by School of Communication Dean E. Patrick Johnson, this autobiographical work unfolds in eight movements, tracing Johnson’s journey as a queer Black man coming of age in the American South.

Now, twenty-five years later, director Joseph Megel and actor Jamar Jones revisit the piece in a dynamic workshop presentation that reimagines the many identities through which the playwright’s queerness flows — professor, preacher, drag artist, club kid, and more.

The performance culminates in a transformative voyage to Ghana, West Africa, where our protagonist confronts and redefines his relationship to race, gender, and sexuality in a deeply personal reckoning.

Intended for Mature Audiences
Approximate run time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Director

Joseph Megel

Award-winning director Joseph Megel directed the premier of Howard L. Craft’s Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green in North Carolina, Off-Off Broadway, Off Broadway, and at the Fountain Theater in LA. At UNC, he is artist in residence in Performance Studies and director of the Process Series: New Works in Development, continuously presenting public readings of new works since 2008. He is Artistic Director of StreetSigns and Co-Executive Director of Harland’s Creek Productions, producer of new plays, screenplays, and short films. A graduate of Northwestern University, School of Speech, he holds an MFA from the University of Southern California, Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program, School of Cinema.