CityBeat columnist writes play

Your Negro Tour Guide, the one-woman play adapted from the personal archives of University of Cincinnati professor and former CityBeat columnist, Kathy Y. Wilson, is scheduled to be performed Monday night at Playhouse in the Park.

The play is adapted from her anthology, Your Negro Tour Guide: Truths in Black and White, a collection of columns tackling the issues of race, class and gender in and beyond Cincinnati.

As a columnist, Wilson used her thunderous presence and vivid language to brand pivotal moments in Cincinnati's chronology, offering Cincinnati vantage points that were otherwise unexplored. She was one of the few journalists on the front line of the 2001 race riots that dared criticize the police and local government for their counterintuitive and ethically deficient tactics. Her columns won her national praise, propelled her perspective to Nation Public Radio's "This American Life."

While no stranger to various forms of media, this is Wilson's first stab at the stage.

"It is shocking and embarrassing and secretly thrilling," Wilson said. "Anytime something that you create originally for one arena gets moved into another arena, it moves you to an entirely new audience and this is not the first time I've experienced something like that."

Wilson also has appeared on WCPO-TV's "Hot Seat," has attended the Neiman Conference at Harvard University and has spoken at numerous local events.

Recognition and celebrity are not motivators for Wilson.

"I have chosen to obsess over the work," she said. "I learned a long time ago not to rest on my laurels. I have to concentrate on trying to write some good sentences and trying to think well."

The adaptation was never Wilson's idea. She was approached by Torie Wiggins, a former College-Conservatory of Music student, to adapt Your Negro Tour Guide into a stage piece. An Atlanta native, Wiggins became familiar with Wilson's column while studying in Cincinnati.

"When I finally got the book with all the pieces compiled, I thought 'wow, this would be a great show because she deals with so many different aspects, so many rich themes;" said Wiggins. "It always has such a big voice."

By meeting Wilson, Wiggins was able to glean unique perspectives to enrich the piece. "Every time we met with her and spoke with her, she gave us something to think about."

While Wilson's words tend to shake and rattle, her goal for the performance is very modest: she wants to see UC students and young people fill the aisles.

"What can be more important for college students right now in America, in this time of political excitement, with a bi-racial man and a white woman running for president of the United States, than to hear some black woman stand up and talk about the shit that made that all possible: race, gender and class."

Your Negro Tour Guide is scheduled to be performed one night only at Playhouse in the Park Monday, Feb. 26. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 to $15.