Every Sunday more than one million people turn on their computers, log onto the Internet and visit PostSecret.com. There is something comforting about the simple, black background, on which more than twenty-five secrets per week echo the fears, hopes and regrets of American people. On Friday, October 5th, more than 200 fans were exposed to another world of PostSecret, an interactive play.
The performance, just like the blog, was raw. No gimmicks, costumes, or even memorization took place on stage that night at The Bethesda Row Playhouse. A sold-out crowd watched as diverse three actors reenacted scenes from PostSecret events, exhibitions, postcards and emails. There was no plot, much to my dismay. Rather, the team worked in tandem with multimedia presentations sharing secrets that emphasized a certain theme, like eating disorders or suicide, and the actors described, or read verbatim the fallout of some of the more famous or notorious secrets. The actual acting portion of the performance lacked commitment to the secrets. One can assume this is because of the lack of connection to the actual secret that lessened the overall drama of the secret. However, the multimedia sections which displayed the secrets reflected the heart that PostSecret has come to be famous for.
This dialed-down approach was disenchanting at first, especially when you went to the play expecting a full on performance with all the cheesy, but wonderful, gimmicks. This play wasn’t really a play. It did not follow the arc of story telling, there was no climax or falling action. The point of the play, I learned, was to do just that.
“One of the reasons I sought to make PostSecret a play was to show people that they are not alone,” said PostSecret founder Frank Warren after the two-hour long presentation was over. Well, Mr. Warren, mission accomplished. If you looked around the audience you would see both die-hard fans and PostSecret neophytes with tears rolling down their cheeks after connection to one of the secrets.
The most moving element of the show circled around the secret “When people I love leave voicemails on my phone, I always save them in case they die tomorrow and I have no way of hearing their voice again.” After this secret hit the PostSecret blog, Mr. Warren began to receive audio files of voicemails follower’s love ones had left on their phone before dying. The audience was silent as the musical tones of “Happy Birthday chants” and “Hey, honey, it’s Mom” echoed across the room.
Some of the secrets were heart warming, heart breaking and everything in between. A quick glance around the audience would expose mascara stained faces and men the size of linebackers immersed in the world of PostSecret. This night of drama was an eye opening and emotionally exhausting.
Photo by Mallory Kuenzi