Last summer, before the bottom really fell out of the economy and everybody and their dog started brooding about risk, author Richard Cahan says he got to thinking about it in a creative context: how avoiding risk narrowed his own choices as a writer and the choices of artists and arts organizations in general. Their caution is understandable. For many small theater companies, Cahan notes, a single risky decision that doesn’t pay off “can spell doom.”
Of course, money-back guarantees have been around at least as long as the Sears catalog, though not in the theater. They’re a surefire marketing tool, much less about returning cash to a few dissatisfied customers than about giving an exponentially larger number of them the gold-plated confidence to buy the product in the first place. In Cahan’s vision, there’d be no obstacles between customer and payback—no cumbersome mail-in, no waiting for a check that might take months to arrive. Just a rep stationed in the lobby or at the box office after each performance, foundation cash in hand. Disgruntled customers would fill out the shortest of forms, explaining why they were dissatisfied, and get their money back on the spot. If they’d paid with a credit card, Cahan notes, they’d leave with more green in their pockets than they had when they arrived.
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This was not exactly what Cahan had in mind: El Grito del Bronx had already been scheduled for production, with the Goodman providing marketing help and free use of its Owen Theatre. “We originally thought the guarantee program would be two-pronged,” Cahan says—encouraging theater companies to do plays they wouldn’t otherwise do while also encouraging people to attend. But, he adds, for the pilot run, “I thought, if we’re going to try this, we should try it with a group that really embraces it.” And there was also the advantage of a fast start.
a The Driehaus Foundation will also sponsor about 30 free performances by arts groups on its funding roster in public areas of the city this summer.
Previews 7/15-7/16, 7:30 PM. Opens Fri 7/17. Through 8/2: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM (except 7/18), Sun 2 PM, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, goodmantheatre.org, $15-$30.
