A theater project that tells veterans’ stories started at the University of Oregon and will serve as a model for similar projects across the country.

“Telling” came out of interviews conducted with more than 20 people in the military or with family in the military. The play is performed by some of the interviewees. Co-creator and executive director Jonathan Wei (Way) says he wanted more accurate representations of military experience. Wei says the play does not have a political point of view.

Wei: “Which is not to say that there aren’t political views in it. What we wanted to do was present those as belonging to those individuals and not as something the production either espouses or argues with. We strove to be as even-handed about this as we possibly could which is basically just being true to the material that they gave us in the interviews.”

Using “Telling Eugene” as a model, Wei says he’s working with the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana and W-U-N-C radio at the University of North Carolina.

“Telling” is back in Eugene this weekend for performances at the U of O.

The play will be performed at the Erb Memorial Union Ballroom at 8 pm Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. It’s free.

http://thetellingproject.org/telling-eugene/