July 16, 1998
Show-Tixx a No-Show
L.A.
Ticket Service Leaves Theatres Short
by Rob Kendt
In the second loss of a Los Angeles theatre ticketing service in
less than a year, the Sherman Oaks-based Show-Tixx has closed its doorsÑor,
more precisely, locked them and disappeared leaving the small L.A. theatres it
serviced short of tens of thousands of dollars in credit card reservations.
Most affected is Hollywood's Celebration Theatre, whose hit show Naked
Boys Singing was selling out many weeks in advance through Show-Tixx when its
owner, Steve Thomas, began to be delinquent with checks to the Celebration,
which bounced when they finally arrived. When Thomas apparently vanished
without a trace last week, Show-Tixx had sold tickets for at least four
weekends of Naked Boys showsÑsales of more than $20,000, said Schrock.
"Our existence is very precarious right now," said
Schrock, who at presstime had not pressed charges against Thomas. "We have
no cash flow, and we're 80 percent box-office-dependent for our survival."
Indeed, last weekend Naked Boys played mostly to audiences who'd
reserved through Show-Tixx, and "that hurtÑto be doing it for
nothing," lamented Schrock.
Others who stand to lose money from Show-Tixx include Stan Roth,
the producer of Ravenscroft at the Ventura Court Theatre, who
projects the loss at around $600. Bill Reilly, the producer of an unexpected
hit, the Excalibur Theatre Company's The Boys From Syracuse, wouldn't
disclose how much money he stood to lose but did say: "It's the difference
between breaking even and not. It's devastating."
The news comes as a blow to small local theatres, who last year
weathered the suspiciously similar demise of Theatix, a ticket service run by
Melodie Annis which also closed its doors in August, 1997 with debts
outstanding.
Indeed, the folding of Theatix gave the relatively new Show-Tixx
enterprise a boost, as Annis turned most of her theatre clients over to Thomas
when Theatix shuttered in August. Show-Tixx had been modestly founded in
January, 1997 by playwright Del Shores (Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will) to service
his play Sordid Lives. Steve Thomas lived with Shores at the time, and
when they split up in June of that year, Shores sold his interest in the
company to Thomas, who incorporated it under his name and moved it into an
office on Ventura Blvd.
"I'm devastated, quite honestly," said Shores, who
remained on amicable terms with Thomas and Show-Tixx until the recent debacle;
Thomas, Shores said, still owes him $12,000 of last year's buyout. "When I
was involved with Show-Tixx, we ran it at a profit. We were always very meticulous
about the books."
Such ticket services make their money off the service charges;
Show-Tixx's going rate was $4 on top of the printed price. They also charge a
small weekly fee, around $25, to theatres for the service; the fee is typically
deducted from a show's receipts. The full value of the credit card orders for a
given weekend, minus the service charges, is paid out to a theatre with a check
after that weekend, which means that advance sales can rack up the account far
in excess of what must be paid out in checks each week.
Most sources speculated that this disparity may be what tempted
Thomas to "over-extend" himself, and to "rob Peter to pay
Paul"Ñto make the high-raking hits pay the weekly bills to smaller shows
without a plan for how the hits would get their money in the end.
One theatre company, Theatre InSite, used both Theatix and
Show-Tixx, because the epic run of its runaway hit, Is It Just Me or Is It
Hot in Here?, spanned the year (it finally closed, after 14 months, on July
2). Artistic director Michael Arabian said that Theatix's Annis still owes
Theatre InSite $10,000Ñbut that his bad experience with Theatix helped him
"see the signs" and escape from Show-Tixx unscathed. Arabian feels
that action is needed to prevent the pattern from recurring.
"I don't understand why there are no safeguards in such a
situation, where a company can receive credit card payments with no protection
or insurance to customers or clients," said Arabian. "What needs to
happen is a permit they have to apply for from the city, where they have to put
up a bond. Also, the ticket agent is holding money in trust for the theatres,
so the money should put into a trust, not a regular bank account."
Said the Excalibur's Reilly, "What this guy's absconded with
can't amount to all that much in today's world, but when you break down these
little amounts, they're crucially important to little theatres like us."
The Show-Tixx office, in a mini-mall near the intersection of
Fulton and Ventura Blvd., has apparently been stripped of equipment and
furniture; according to the property manager, Show-Tixx signed a one-year lease
in May, but when he went to the office to collect rent on July 1, he found it
empty.
At presstime, the message on the Show-Tixx phone lineÑ(818) 789-TIXX,
or 789-8499Ñstill answered cheerily, but its mailbox was full.