Please join military veterans and their families for a special Veterans Day film screening of the play “Telling Gainesville.” Telling Gainesville is part of a nationwide initiative by the National Endowment for the Humanities that connects civilian audiences with veterans in a creative, supportive environment.
“Telling Gainesville” ran to standing-room- only audiences at the Actor’s Warehouse in the fall of 2016. It featured veterans from the Marine Corps, the US Navy, and the Army—along with a woman who was married to an Air Force pilot for twenty years. The play allowed veterans tell their stories in the first person, and to speak directly with audiences about the challenges of military service in war and in peace.
The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s videographer, Deborah Hendrix, filmed one of the final performances of Telling Gainesville. The film captures the poignancy of veterans discussing combat experiences, loss of comrades, and post-war traumas. After the film screening, the play’s director, Jeffrey Pufahl, will hold a roundtable discussion with actor-veterans who will take questions from the audience. Jeffrey Pufahl is a Creative Campus Visiting Scholar in Residence at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and a faculty member in UF’s Center for Arts in Medicine.
This screening is part of ongoing efforts by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Florida Humanities Council to create and support works that bring together civilians and veterans in mutually supportive dialogues to promote understanding. The play was written by Max Reyneard and directed by Jeffrey Pufahl.
The program is part of the University of Florida’s, “Dialogues on the Experiences of War” and is sponsored by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP) Veterans’ History Project and the Center for European Studies, along with the UF Center for Arts in Medicine.
This program has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Florida
Humanities Council.
EVENT: Telling Gainesville: Military Veterans Share Their Stories of Service and Struggle
LOCATION: The Hippodrome State Theatre, Downtown, Gainesville
DATE: Saturday, November 11th
TIME: Doors 6:30, Screening 7:00pm – 9:00pm.
Free Public Event
About the Dialogues on the Experience of War program:
The NEH offers the Dialogues on the Experience of War program as part of its current initiative, Standing Together: The Humanities and the Experience of War. The program supports the study and discussion of important humanities sources about war, in the belief that these sources can help U.S. military veterans and others think more deeply about the issues raised by war and military service. If you are interested in future discussion sessions or film screenings, contact Lisa Booth at the UF Center for European Studies.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Lisa Booth
Center for European Studies
Email Lisa Booth for more information and free discussion materials.
Tamarra Jenkins
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program
352-392- 7168