''Noo Yawk Tawk'' was an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

show conceived and directed by

Richmond Shepard Richmond Shepard (24 April 1929 – 2 July 2019) was an American writer, director, producer and mime with a 50-year history in entertainment. He was one of the oldest living working mimes in show business. He built, owned and operated his own th ...

which played at The Village Gate Theater from 1988 to 1991. It featured members of an

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

troupe founded by Mr. Shepard. All performances were entirely improvised. Characters may have been repeated but never the sketches or the dialogue. The audience set the conditions for each improvisation so every performance was different. The sketches were based on improvisational games which included poems, songs, a fictitious foreign movie and a scene which included the first and last line all given by audience members. The cast members used their skills of foreign accents, dialects, singing, mime and writing. In 1991, the group branched out and another troupe was formed to perform at the Top Of The Gate, a club run by Manny Roth, former manager of the

Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...

. Roth persuaded Stan Taffel to create and take charge of the new group.

Speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a beer flat or blind pig or blind tiger, was an illicit establishment that sold alcoholic beverages. The term may also refer to a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. In the United State ...

played to packed houses until 1993 and moved to other venues before Taffel joined the off-Broadway company of

The News In Revue ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. Three members of the troupe, Stan Taffel,

Miguel Sierra --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

and

Kim Cea Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynas ...

were hired for a new animated series, The Toysters, which had a run of thirteen episodes and was seen in foreign countries.

Cast

* Stan Taffel *

Marc Kudisch Marc Kudisch (born September 22, 1966) is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway. Early life and education Kudisch was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of Florence and Raymond Kudisch. His fam ...

Debra Wilson Debra Wilson is an American actress and comedian. She is the longest-serving original cast member on the sketch comedy series ''Mad TV'', having appeared on the show's first eight seasons from 1995 to 2003. As a voice actress, she has voiced va ...

*Indira Stefanianna Christopherson *

Eric Douglas Eric Anthony Douglas (June 21, 1958 – July 6, 2004) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was the youngest son of actor Kirk Douglas and his second wife Anne Buydens. His half-brother was actor and producer Michael Douglas. Douglas ...

Bonnie Comley Bonnie Comley is an American three-time Tony Award-winning theatre producer. She has won an Olivier Award and two Drama Desk Awards for her stage productions. She is a member of The Broadway League and serves on their Audience Engagement and Educa ...

Ken Dashow Ken Dashow (born May 1, 1958) is a writer, performer and director. He is a disc jockey at New York City's WAXQ "Q104.3" classic rock radio station. He is also voicetracked to Classic Rock WBGG-FM "Big 105.9" in Miami, WPYX PYX106, 106.5 in Alban ...

*Doug Katsaros *

Garry Goodrow Garry Goodrow (November 4, 1933 – July 22, 2014) was an American actor known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play ''The Connection'' (1959) and its 1961 film version, and as one of the original membe ...

*Nola Roeper *Michael Cooke *Miguel Sierra *Kim Cea *Rafael D’Lugoff *Lili Schlossberg *Jessie Janet Richards *Pauline Frommer

References

External links

{{iobdb title, 4724 1988 plays Off-Broadway plays