 The Practical Theatre Company was founded in 1979 under the name Attack Theater at Northwestern University by Brad Hall, Paul Barrosse, Robert Mendel, and Angela Murphy as a not for profit theater company dedicated to the production of improvisational comedy and new plays.The company's first show, "Clowns", a play about two improvisational comedians written and performed by artistic directors Hall and Barrosse, opened on April 11, 1979 at Shanley Hall on the NU campus.In September of '79, Attack Theatre's inaugural season closed with a pair of one-act plays staged at National College of Education