In February of 2008, 11 veterans, family members and military recruits took to the stage in Eugene, Oregon to tell their stories of life shaped by military service. The performance was the result of a nearly year long process, a process that had involved over 60 hours of interviews with 22 veterans of the Eugene area, two months of performance training for the eleven performers and another two months of rehearsals of the script. More than a hundred people were involved over the course of the creation of “Telling, Eugene,” from designers and publicists to fundraisers and sponsors to technical and production assistants. The eventual performance was sold-out three nights running and covered in local, regional and national media. Excerpts from the script appeared in the December, 2008 issue of the Iowa Review, and the play was performed as a featured presentation at the March, 2009 NASPA Conference in Seattle, excerpted and performed in Washington, DC in November of 2009, and excerpted and performed at Portland Center Stage in Portland, OR in November, 2010.
THE MAKING OF TELLING: EUGENE
- Click on image to view film; photo by Lemuel Charley
This short film offers an outline of the process of the making of Telling: Eugene, and insight into some of the ideas and intentions behind The Telling Project and its creators. It also affords a sense of the transformation of interviews to performances, and of people with stories to storytellers and performers.
Performance footage, Daniel Miller, 2008; veteran interviews, Lemon Films, 2008; creators interviews, Greg Omelchuck & Lemon Films, 2008. Editing, Greg Omelchuck & Lemon Films, 2008. All rights reserved by The Telling Project.
TELLING, EUGENE: ARTISTIC STAFF
LEMUEL CHARLEY, Director of Design: Lemuel spent more than seven years in the Army as a paratrooper and heavy equipment engineer. He served in the first Gulf War, Bosnia, and Haiti. Lemuel is currently a senior at the University of Oregon majoring in Digital Arts. The 37-year-old Arizona native’s first paying job was as an actor. Upon graduation, he plans to continue his artwork. He enjoys mountaineering and climbing.
MAX RAYNEARD, Co-Author: Max Rayneard is a South African Fulbright scholar presently undertaking a PhD in the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Oregon. Prior to his arrival in the US, he completed a Masters Degree in English Literature at Rhodes University (2002) and taught literature at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (2002-2004) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, during which time he co-founded and edited the literary journal SHARP! Max is an active playwright. About Midnight was performed at the 1999 South African National Arts Festival. Muti Inc. was an educational piece commissioned by UBOM! Eastern Cape Drama Company. The play aimed to inform rural communities and school children about the pros and cons of genetically modified crops. It toured extensively throughout the Eastern Cape in 2004/5. His research interest is the status of literary studies in developing and cross-cultural contexts, with a particular focus on the social worth of literary pedagogy.
JOHN SCHMOR, Director: Associate Professor and Department Head for Theatre Arts at the University of Oregon, John Schmor’s research interests are in the areas of performance theory and early twentieth century avantgarde theatre histories. Artistically, Schmor directs and writes about “devising” collaborative, performer-based production practices in developing and creating new works of theatre. Schmor has performed as Malvolio and as Cyrano for the Willamette Repertory Theatre, regularly directs for the University Theatre and the Lord Leebrick Theatre Company, including the upcoming My Zombie Hamlet, a joint venture between the University and Lord Leebrick theatres. Schmor is an active partner in the multimedia arts consortium, Creative Material Group, which has produced internationally both live and film projects, including Faust/Faustus at Deptford, and MotelHaus.
