What You Need To Know About PostSecret:
+ PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard to the home of Frank Warren, creator & curator of PostSecret. The blog, which debuted on Jan. 1, 2005, features new sets of secrets posted every Sunday. It's had over half a billion hits, 1.1 million FaceBook followers, & is the world's biggest ad-free blog.
+ Yes, the secrets are sent to HIS ACTUAL HOME (PostSecret/ 13345 Copper Ridge Road/ Germantown, MD 20874). That fact alone proves his investment in this project, but he has consistently proven an honorable intention in the efforts & results of the creation of this community-based collage. On August 24, 2012, Frank posted this comment on PostSecret's Facebook page: "A producer for Dr. Phil and another for the new Jeff Probst talk show called me this week. Neither invitation was right for PostSecret so I had to say no." He has always treated this project with commitment & integrity, and I give him mad props for both the initiation & execution of this project. Speaking of Frank's awesome efforts & influence, Frank teamed up with 1-800-suicide in 2008 in an effort to address anonymous cries for help being called into peer-run crisis-hotlines on college campuses.
+ There have been five books of secrets released that have climbed the NY Times Best Sellers List. My parents took me to a book signing in Philadelphia when My Secret was released. It was a great event & Frank was a warm, engaging, & insightful speaker. Besides speaking at PostSecret events, Frank has had speaking engagements at colleges all over the country. There have also been several touring art exhibitions featuring the actual post cards (including one at Baltimore's American Visionary Museum [one of my favorites ever] as well as NYC's more impressive Museum of Modern Art).
+ There USED to be an iPhone App. It debuted Sept. 3, 2011 & was shut down on December 28th. It was the only App I have ever actually purchased & it RULED. I was not the only one who thought since the volunteer moderators were unable to keep with with the 2 million+ submissions (many of which were abusive, threatening, & nasty). Frank received threats & was contacted by users, Apple, law enforcement, & the FBI. There was an official notice on the PostSecret website on Jan. 1, 2012 that said the App would not be returning "due to its inherent inability to solve the problem of abusive submissions."
R.I.P. PostSecret App. I miss you every day.
NOW THERE IS A POSTSECRET PLAY!
+ This is even more exciting than the Dar Williams musical! The concept behind the play reminds me of my favorite plays, Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith, which was constructed through the compilation of interviews. The honesty, approach-ability, & raw beauty of this script-writing technique (which I have personally/privately dubbed "InterView Theatre") is one that I adore. This new work by TJ Dawe & Kahlil Ashanti is going to be a multi-media theatrical event that incorporates new postcards & the ripple effects from past postcards. According to Frank Warren, "We're bringing together a lot of elements that I'm really excited about. Dozens of post cards that have never been seen before, email responses, connections people have made, really the voices of the PostSecret community that haven't had a chance to be fully shared & we're bringing them together on the stage so that we can act things out...we can use lighting, shadow, video...
it's gonna be pretty amazing."
The Performances:
Performance Works @ Vancouver International Fringe Festival: Sept. 22-23
Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD: Oct. 5 (sold out)
Temple Theatre in Saginaw, MI: Oct. 18
A few more of my favorite secrets...
ART McSmART!
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