Call to veterans: Tell the story of your military experience

ST. PETERSBURG — Veterans and their families have a unique chance to tell their communities about what it means to serve.

The acclaimed Telling Project gives veterans and/or family members the chance to go on stage to tell how service affected their lives and attitudes.  The performance-based project has been a success in 17 cities in 12 states and now is coming to the Tampa Bay area.

Among goals are to ease veterans’ transitions, to allow communities to benefit from the skills and experience the vets bring home, and to foster a level of understanding that will deepen a community’s connection to its veterans, to itself, and to its place in the nation and the world.

To register for Telling Tampa Bay, go to www.floridahumanities.org/veterans. The deadline to register is Nov. 15.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are particularly encouraged.

Those who register will be considered as interviewees for Telling Tampa Bay. Interviewing does not mean a required performance, but many veterans find the process of simply telling their story to be empowering.

Interviews may be followed by training and rehearsals before the staging of five performances in the Tampa Bay area. All stage performances will be free and open to the public and will include an opportunity for the audience to interact with the performers.

For more information, contact Lisa Powers at Lpowers@flahum.org or call her at (917) 822-8710.