Rance Rizzutto

Rizzutto's career traces a path from regional improv scenes through Chicago's major institutions to the founding of a new improv center in a city that previously lacked dedicated infrastructure. His years at iO Chicago, ComedySportz, and Second City Theatricals gave him fluency in both competitive short-form and Chicago-style long-form traditions, a dual competency he has carried into his teaching and institution-building.

The creation of HERE represented an unusual achievement in improvised musical performance. Where most improv musicals involve full ensembles, HERE distills the form down to two performers creating a complete musical narrative in real time, demanding extraordinary range in singing, character work, and scene construction. The show's international touring to 24 countries demonstrated that improvised musical theatre could command audiences across cultural and linguistic boundaries.

The founding of The Nest Theatre in 2016 addressed a gap in the American improv landscape. Columbus, despite being the largest city in Ohio, had no dedicated full-time improv venue before The Nest opened. Rizzutto and DeFrancisco's decision to build from scratch rather than work within existing institutions reflected a growing movement of experienced Chicago-trained improvisers establishing new improv centers in underserved cities.

Rizzutto's teaching approach is grounded in the Harold-based long-form methodology he developed at iO Chicago and has since extended through intensive touring workshops and festival teaching circuits across North America and Europe. His teaching partnership with Tara DeFrancisco, which has taken them to Europe, Miami, Columbus, and dozens of festival markets, represents one of the more active Harold-focused teaching practices outside Chicago itself.

His classroom approach emphasizes the Harold's internal logic as a teachable structure rather than an abstract ideal. Rizzutto teaches the Harold's three-act architecture, the opening's function as a group mind exercise, the mechanics of sweep edits and tags, and the principles of thematic connection that distinguish a fully realized Harold from a series of disconnected scenes. For students learning long-form for the first time, his instruction focuses on building the fundamental habits (accepting offers, establishing relationships, grounding scenes in specific environments) that make the Harold's more complex requirements accessible.

His dual background in ComedySportz short-form and iO long-form gives Rizzutto a cross-format pedagogical perspective: he can explain how short-form game mechanics relate to long-form pattern recognition, and he uses this comparison to help students understand why improv skills transfer across formats. His musical improv work with DeFrancisco in HERE: The (Improvised) Musical extends his teaching into a hybrid performance context that combines improvised narrative with live musical composition, and he teaches the specific skills (narrative arc awareness, musical-scene integration, point-of-view maintenance under musical accompaniment) that this format requires.

The Nest Theatre has established Columbus as a significant stop on the American improv map, providing both a performance venue and a structured training program where none previously existed. The theatre's growth to twelve rotating productions and its expansion to a second location demonstrate that the model of Chicago-trained improvisers founding institutions in new markets can produce sustainable results.

HERE: The (Improvised) Musical's international success across 24 countries has expanded the reach of improvised musical performance beyond the English-speaking improv circuits where the form originated. The show's critical reception and sustained touring prove that two skilled performers trained in both improv and musical theatre can create a theatrical experience that competes with and often surpasses the entertainment value of scripted productions.