As Louisville.com detailed a week and a half ago, the live version of the popular website PostSecret is coming to the University of Louisville April 5, 2011. Since the announcement, organizer Robin Chrisman has been overwhelmed with questions about how she pulled it off and how to get tickets. We managed to catch her in-between e-mails for the ticket details—and the story of how she managed to bring Post-master Frank Warren to town.
Chrisman, a senior Communications major, is the director of programming for the Student Activities Center board. The board uses a portion of the student activity fee to do campus programming, which includes homecoming, dances, and bringing speakers and bands to campus. But Chrisman didn’t know much about the PostSecret phenomenon until this past June, when her boyfriend Kevin—a student in Speed School—got her hooked. Chrisman knew right away that a live event would be just the thing to make a splash in the Cardinals community. “So I called [Warren’s] agent and got it started,” she says. “I knew it was going to be a unique experience, and it’s something that everyone in that room will be able to share and talk about for several semesters. We’re really trying to transition our programming into things that are more attractive to students and the community as well—students especially, because it’s their money.”
That student status is an advantage to PostSecret fans wanting tickets, because not only will they have the opportunity to get them cheaper, they’ll also get a crack at buying them first. At $7 each (cash only) with valid UofL ID, students will be able to line up starting Tuesday, March 1 at the Floyd Theatre box office on the third floor of the SAC. “We’ll probably have a table set up during lunch,” Chrisman says. “It’ll all be done in person—not on phone or online.” The general public will be offered tickets for $10 beginning Wednesday, March 23, also through the Floyd box office.
What kind of person goes to a PostSecret event? Everyone, says Chrisman. Although she’s thoroughly enjoyed working with Warren’s regional agent and has considered continuing to work in the talent end (which, for this evening, includes furnishing transportation and dinner to Warren) for such productions, her current plan is to go to seminary after she graduates from UofL in December. Still, the often-racy subject matter exposed in the secrets doesn’t make her blush. “I think seeing people’s stories are so much cooler than it being embarrassing or controversial. It’s honesty at its very finest. Definitely some of [the secrets] can make you think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going on it people’s heads!' But there’s some pretty sick stuff in my thoughts as well. They’re just more courageous than I am.”
In the meantime, PostSecret fans can get their fix every Sunday, when Warren posts a bit of the latest haul on PostSecret.com. “I check it every Sunday and I love sharing it with my friends,” Chrisman says. “It’s addicting.”
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Photo: Courtesy Nicole Keimer
