Giggles and laughter echoed as audience members listened intently to Frank Warren share the countless shocking postcards he’s received over the past ten years.
As part of an art project, Warren created PostSecret in 2004, which encouraged strangers around the world to send in anonymous postcards with unique designs and their own secrets. After PostSecret took off, Warren began hosting shows and talks with the public to help others connect with themselves and others with similar stories. He appeared Thursday at the Carpenter Center at Cal State Long Beach to do the same.
The packed theater was buzzing with excitement as members from nearby neighborhoods eagerly filed in to reach their designated seating, some having traveled up to four hours to attend the show.
Warren started the show by reading off of physical postcards to the audience. Nobody could see the designs, which is one of the most powerful parts of the postcards. After going through a few, he switched over to a presentation. Once the cards were visible, the audience was moved by the personal pictures and drawings that each secret accompanied.
The first image was a huge pile of cards, which Warren explained was all the cards mailed directly to his house. It filled almost an entire room and was so tall that his wife was shown straining to place a new bunch on the top. The amount of piles, each bundled with 200 cards, allowed the audience see the magnitude of the art project.
The decorated cards were an emotional punch that made the reality of the secrets more prominent. Warren spoke about one of the first impactful stories, turning the mood more somber as an image of a door damaged by hands filled the screen. Sniffles came from around the theater as more postcards mentioned physical and emotional abuse.
These personal stories helped to realize the importance of people knowing they aren’t alone with their secrets. On the slides, Warren layered postcard after postcard, showing the amount of strangers who felt comfortable to share similar experiences with the world.
Halfway into the show, he played a compilation of final voice messages left from loved ones that people had given to him. The voices added a whole new element to the dynamic, and the audience dabbed away their tears as they listened to grandparents singing, “Happy Birthday” and friends saying their, “I love yous.”
Although, there were some aspects of deep grief in the show, Warren made it a point to keep the mood light when he was able to. Certain stories shared were silly as his quick witted commentary allowed people to laugh even after witnessing a sad card or story. The humor was one of the best parts of the show as the audience collectively laughed at all the same moments.
Being able to smoothly transition in and out of emotions, Warren touched on issues of mental illness and suicide within colleges throughout the night. His presentation toward the topic was extremely powerful and hands on, urging everyone to do a Google search then and there for an autofill of “college makes me feel…” The top answer was “Like a failure” and it brought into perspective how many students worldwide are struggling with relatable issues.
Audience members were invited to share their secrets with the crowd to end the night. Although almost half the audience wanted to, the microphone was passed around to only 13 people for time’s sake. People told secrets that were astonishing to the others surrounding them. No superficial words were said to try and make these people more comfortable, Warren simply thanked them for trusting and having the courage to share something so personal with a theater full of strangers.
The rollercoaster of emotions that resonated throughout the theater was the most impactful part of the night. As the audience listened to sniffles and sobs and witnessed others laugh at the same parts they did, they were reminded of the relatability and unity within the PostSecret community and perhaps, around the world.