Some things are just too hard to say out loud, but Wendy Armington, communication studies masters student, will be telling her secrets to strangers this week. Armington will present her first one-woman show, “Dear You: A Collection of Unsent Letters,” today through Sunday in the Hopkins Black Box Theatre in 137 Coates Hall. Donations of $5 or more will be accepted at the door. Armington will present 40 unsent letters she wrote over a 3-year period to an anonymous recipient. She said she wrote the letters as a way to release emotions and never had any intention of sending them. The letters are all very personal, and all were intended for people very close to her, Armington said. Most of the letters were to Armington’s friends and family from when she moved to the Slovakian Republic after getting her undergraduate degree from the University. “Not all are love letters,” Armington said. “But they really are letters to people that I have not sent.” She said she began the letter writing in 2002 in a communication studies class. One of her assignments was to write a letter, and she never sent hers. She said she continues to write and not send letters as a way to release feelings. “I think we’re all allowed a few obsessions, and this happens to be one of mine.” Annamaria Ruffino, communication studies masters student, said it is hard to describe a show that is so personal. “Wendy invites the audience into her world,” Ruffino said. “She makes the performance accessible so that the audience can relate to her emotion.” Armington said she is nervous to have the letter’s recipients finally hear their letters when they come to the show. “They’re definitely my secrets and thoughts that I couldn’t say out loud,” Armington said. “Now what’s going to happen when I say them out loud, I don’t know.” She said the letters are humorous as well as emotional. “I hope they laugh,” Armington said. “I hope they recognize something of themselves in it.” She said the show will be like reading her diary, which she thinks the audience will enjoy.
“It’s interesting,” Armington said. “There’s something very dangerous about reading someone else’s mail.”
 
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