Buffalo Improv House

Founding (2020-2021)

Dan Reitz, a Buffalo-area native who had spent years teaching improv at Magnet Theater, the People's Improv Theater (PIT), and Sarah Lawrence College in New York City, relocated back to Buffalo during the COVID-19 pandemic. Missing the improv community, Reitz launched Buffalo Improv House as a "beacon" for the city's comedy scene, creating a website and offering free introductory classes. The organization grew from those early classes into Western New York's primary improv institution, co-founded with Annie Moor.

Permanent Venue (2024)

For several years Buffalo Improv House operated without a dedicated space. In August and September 2024, the organization opened a purpose-built theatre and classroom at the Pierce Arrow Factory Complex at 255 Great Arrow Ave, Suite 207. The new venue gave the company a permanent home and expanded its capacity to host regular performances and structured training programs.

Ongoing Operations

Buffalo Improv House continues to operate at the Pierce Arrow Factory Complex, running classes, house ensemble performances, and programming connecting Buffalo audiences with the broader international improv community.

Buffalo Improv House presents long-form ensemble improv informed by Reitz's training in the New York tradition (Magnet, PIT, UCB). The company's mission explicitly aims to connect the Buffalo community with the international improv scene, positioning the city as a participant rather than a spectator in the broader art form. Training and community-building are central to the organization's identity.

Premiere: The Improvised Musical is the venue's flagship long-form production, billed as New York City's longest continually-running musical improv comedy show. Various Factors Musical Improv presents a Broadway-inspired improvised musical comedy. Whose House? features Buffalo's improv comedians facing off in a panel-style comedy show. Good Neighbors draws material from true stories shared by notable people in the community. Castles and Creatures is an RPG-inspired improvised adventure. You Should Smile More showcases an all-female and gender-nonconforming ensemble. The Ha-Ha Show delivers an all-ages improv hour, and The Faculty Presents features performances by the venue's own teaching staff. The annual Winter Improv Marathon, which has benefitted organizations including Buffalo City Mission and FeedMore WNY, brings teams from across Western New York, Canada, and Ohio for a multi-group charity showcase.

Buffalo Improv House was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic by Dan Reitz and Annie Moor, who recognized a gap in Buffalo's comedy infrastructure and built the organization from the ground up during a period when live performance was shut down. Reitz brought extensive teaching credentials from the Magnet Theater, the People's Improv Theater, and Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and the company's faculty drew on collective experience performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, Second City, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the New York Comedy Festival. The organization opened its permanent purpose-built theatre and classroom in the Pierce Arrow Factory Complex at 255 Great Arrow Avenue in September 2024, establishing a dedicated physical home after years of building programming.

Buffalo Improv House positions itself as the pipeline connecting Buffalo with the international improv comedy scene, offering classes at all levels alongside youth and teen programs and corporate workshops. Its mission to be the force behind the improv community in Western New York is reflected in productions like Good Neighbors, which integrates local community storytelling, and the Winter Improv Marathon, which has raised funds for regional food security nonprofits while creating a showcase for Western New York's growing improviser community.