The Premise

Founding (1960)

Theodore J. Flicker, who had performed with the Compass Players in Chicago and St. Louis, established The Premise in collaboration with producers David W. Carter and Allan H. Mankoff. The theatre opened on 22 November 1960 in a basement venue on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. When it opened, Flicker described it as presenting New York audiences with 'the newest form of dramatic entertainment: Improvisational Theatre,' connecting the production explicitly to the Chicago improvisational tradition that the Compass had established.

Run and Alumni (1960–1962)

The Premise assembled a company that included Buck Henry, George Segal, Thomas Aldredge, Joan Darling, and James Frawley, several of whom credited the show as a significant early career experience. The production ran for approximately 1,249 performances before closing in 1962. Following the New York run, the company transferred to the West End in London at the Comedy Theatre.

The Premise carried the improvisational cabaret tradition of the Compass Players directly to New York City, presenting political and social satire generated through improvisation and audience suggestion. The format was explicitly rooted in the improvisational theatre movement then associated with Chicago rather than with any existing New York theatrical tradition.

The Premise presented a single continuously running improvisational revue during its two-year run, generating approximately 1,249 performances from its opening on November 22, 1960 through its 1962 closure. Each performance was constructed entirely from audience suggestions on topics ranging from current events and politics to everyday social scenarios, with no material prepared in advance. Flicker opened each show by telling audiences nothing had been written beforehand. A companion production, The Living Premise, opened at The Premise Theatre in 1963 under Flicker's production and direction, co-directed with Joan Darling, and starred Godfrey Cambridge, Diana Sands, Al Freeman Jr., and Calvin Ander in improvisational satire targeting racial discrimination. Diana Sands received an Obie Award for her performance in The Living Premise. A second Premise company also operated at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, where performances drew Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Senator Hubert Humphrey.

Theodore J. Flicker, a former member of the Compass Players, opened The Premise in a basement venue on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village on November 22, 1960, after conducting auditions of approximately 1,000 actors over three months. The original company included Tom Aldredge, Joan Darling, George Segal, and James Frawley. The show moved across the street to Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate when its original basement space faced closure. Flicker received a Drama Desk Award in 1961 for creating what the citation called "an irreverent, brash and novel form of entertainment." The Premise was one of the earliest theatrical venues in New York to present sustained improvisational political satire to paying audiences, positioning it alongside the Compass Players and Second City as a formative institution in American improv history.

The roster of performers who passed through The Premise across its run was unusually distinguished. George Segal, Joan Darling, and Tom Aldredge were founding company members. Buck Henry joined after Flicker stepped back from performing, initially working with a summer company in Westport, Connecticut before joining the New York production. Later performers included Gene Hackman, Sandy Baron, Al Mancini, Garry Goodrow, George Furth, Cynthia Harris, Peter Bonerz, Mina Kolb, Michael Howard, and Sandra Seacat. Flicker drew directly on his Premise experience when he co-wrote and directed the 1964 film "The Troublemaker" with Buck Henry, an autobiographical satire about the tribulations of running a Greenwich Village theater. Flicker later co-created the television series "Barney Miller." The integrated companion production The Living Premise extended The Premise's influence into civil rights-era satire, distinguishing the venture from the predominantly white casts of comparable improvisational companies of the period.