West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar

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Founded in 1983 by Lewis Black, Rand Forster, and Rusty Magee, "The West Bank" was home to hundreds of new playwrights, comics, and musicians. This freewheeling, cabaret-style theater, located on the ground floor of New York's Manhattan Plaza, became a spawning ground for many influential writers and performers including: Warren Leight(Law and Order), Lisa Loomer (Living Out), Alan Ball(American Beauty), Stuart Browne (Dangerous Parking), Frances McDormand, William Mesnik, Rick Thomas, and Holly Hunter.

Hosted by Master-of-ceremonies Black,(whose rants were inspired from the day's newspaper), and musical magician Magee, the West Bank's "Saturday Night Free Show" became a weekly addiction for New York's theatre intelligentsia.