Speaking out

“I was high,” says Jake Meeks as Telling—the play by and about veterans—begins. “I was stoned out of my monkey ass.”

Meeks was starting to relate the story of how he ended up in the military. Telling is a dramatized oral history of eight Armed Services veterans based on hours of interviews.

Meeks said his interview lasted more than five hours, and an outside consultant helped piece all the interviews together to form the play.

“It’s the vets onstage telling their own story,” Meeks said. “It’s a little goddamn nerve wracking. We’re doing it to get things out there and to get that communal feeling. There are people who are never going to be able to talk about that stuff. It’s difficult but it’s a worthwhile endeavor.”

Telling will be featured at First Congressional Church at 1126 S.W. Park Ave. this Friday through Sunday. The show will start at 8 p.m. the first two days, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free.