Lonely Ghosts and Lukewarm Espresso
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Last spring, when Jacobs and Schmidt decided to present the play, they thought it would appeal to a broad cross section of theatergoers. A story about the ghost of a woman who caused the death of a child, The Woman in Black had a nine-year track record in London, where it premiered and continues to run. And with a cast of only three, it could be a relatively inexpensive production. The two producers cut a deal to open the show in September at Peninsula Players in northern Wisconsin, where Schmidt is on staff, and then move it to the Theatre Building for a Halloween opening. That arrangement enabled them to hold their out-of-pocket production costs down to about $80,000, low for a commercial project. To conserve their marketing budget, they didn’t start advertising until four weeks before the October 28 opening.
Jacobs and Schmidt have listened carefully to all the feedback they’re getting. The original display ad featured a close-up of actor Greg Vinkler’s face contorted in agony; the producers finally conceded that this unpleasant image could have misled people who were unfamiliar with the genteel ghost story, and they dropped the close-up to emphasize the favorable blurbs. They’ve also hired a graphic artist to create a new icon for the show similar to the little waif used to market Les Miserables. Jacobs says the graphic should be visible in advertising within a fortnight.
Babcock is the first to admit that he expected a longer run. But last week he looked at the numbers and decided they weren’t building fast enough to justify an extension. Rather than spend more money to fight the competition and the icy winter weather, Babcock is taking Triple Espresso back to the west coast. “They were begging us to come back to San Diego,” he says. “So that’s what we’ll do.”
