The Moth is returning to the Vineyard for the third straight summer. The Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs will once again play host to the live storytelling performances hosted by the NPR show on Saturday, August 9.

The Moth Mainstage performances by Buddy Vanderhoop, Jenny Allen and Bill Eville from last August will air on public radio station WBUR/WBUA (90.9, 92.7 FM) tonight from 9 to 10 and again Saturday on WCAI (90.1 FM) from 1 to 2 p.m.

I have long been a devotee of The Moth Radio Hour that airs on WCAI (and is also produced there), where people tell true stories from their lives with no notes or props of any kind.

Eighty-seven year old Shirley Mayhew grew up in the Depression, remembers two wars, lived on Martha’s Vineyard in the good old days, and has traveled by herself to 27 different countries.

“None of my friends and family remember half the things I have experienced,” she said. “The Vietnam War is ancient history to my grandchildren.”

But one thing she hasn’t experienced? Telling a story on stage to 2,000 people.

The Moth is coming back! It began in New York city as a some friends telling stories to each other as a way back to a time when people did tell stories to each other — face to face. It moved to a bar and the audiences grew. Now the Moth is nationwide and on the radio. No notes, no help; just one person on stage telling something true and meaningful.

A member of the Moth’s general council recently checked in with the Gazette. She had a story to tell. But it wasn’t just any story. It was THE story. The Moth is coming to the Vineyard.

For those still basking in their chrysalis and unaware of the Moth, it is a storytelling series birthed about a decade ago in the bars of the lower East Side in New York city. True stories told live is their mantra, and now the Moth flies freely in many cities and on NPR as the Moth Radio Hour.