Your Stories, Onstage: "Austin Secrets" at the Long Center [Preview]

What inspired Austin Secrets?

PostSecret was the main inspiration, but StoryCorps, Mortified!, This American Life and other projects of sincerity, as I like to think of them, contributed. In improv, we're constantly striving to be real, connected, and grounded in our characters. Real secrets from real people provide the perfect way to accomplish that... all the nuance, the subtext, and the motivation you need is right there in the secret.

Just as important to its creation, though, was a desire to do some sort of show that wasn't strictly comedy. With improv, you get comedy almost for free, and it's super easy to go to wacky, insane places. But to create tension, tears, and shock... that's where things get really interesting for me.

Is Austin Secrets affiliated with PostSecret?

No, Austin Secrets is not. When we first started the project, I tried getting in touch with Frank Warren, PostSecret's founder and creator. I had the idea that we could officially be a part of the PostSecret project. But he's a busy man and I couldn't get in touch. Nowadays, I'm glad for it. Austin Secrets is finding its own voice, and we incorporate elements unrelated to PostSecret, like interviews in the dark and a segment called "The Truth Chair." Plus, this motivates us more to solicit secrets from Austinites specifically for this show, as opposed to relying on what exists in the PostSecret website.

What's the goal of the project?

Our overriding mantra / number one rule / guiding principal in the show is to "respect the secrets." That means that if a secret is deadly serious, we will do our best to create a scene that honors that. Out of that one principal comes the overall goal, which is to create a show that spans the full range of human emotions... so we consider a show a success if some of it is hilarious and frivolous and other parts of it are sad, wistful, and painful. That's certainly a strange goal for an improv show to have, but so far it's been a highly rewarding one. Sometimes we hit the mark, and sometimes we skew to far in one direction... but it's fun to try.

What can the audience expect - improv based on submissions?

The show is split into four different acts. Act I features just that, improv based directly on submitted secrets. We all read a secret together, and then see a scene based on it. Act II is the Truth Chair, where improvisers sit in a chair and you can ask them absolutely anything at all, and we see a scene about it. Act III is a StoryCorps-style interview in the dark, and Act IV is Hidden Secrets. Only one improviser (and the audience) can see a secret. The other improvisers are clueless as to the nature of the secret in the scene. In this way, we try to create scenes that are closer to how secrets work in real life... they stay hidden.

Beyond the mechanics of the show, though, the audience can expect an emotional rollecoaster... one that smashes through the wall that separates performers from audience members, and makes us all witnesses to an evening of laughter and catharsis.

Have you ever gotten any submissions you felt you couldn't run? Do you find that people are generally very open with their secrets?

In general, we will run anything. We've done secrets about the death of children, infidelity, and other dark subject matter. The only things we steer clear of are secrets with overt, graphic sexual content; not because we refuse to do such scenes, but because the audience can't really connect to them the way they can to other secrets. People are very open, probably because they're anonymous. I'm constantly amazed with the variety and depth of the secrets we get submitted to us. Austin is filled with some very brave people. To honor that, we're trying to make the Long Center show contain nothing but local secrets. It's not too late for people to submit.

If you don't feel like submitting online, you can leave an audio secret by calling 512-827-TELL. Tickets for Thursday's show are still available.