This March/April, the Nestival Festival will be hosting teams from all over the nation in our space presenting their shows to improv lovers in Ohio! The festival shows will run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings on THREE SEPARATE WEEKENDS, with workshops offered Saturday 4/1 (no foolin’). Everything will be hosted inside our beautiful, hip space – right on High St in Old North Columbus/Clintonville!

The Nest Theatre opened in late 2016, and has been incredibly received by the general public and the artistic community. The Nest and Nest shows have been featured in the following media: NPR’s All Things Considered, Columbus Underground, 614 Magazine, Kool 101.7 FM, Experience Columbus, The Lantern, Columbus Moms Blog, Craft The Show, What’s The Deal with Creativity?, Columbus Alive, The Reader, The Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, and a giant cover story on the beloved Columbus Dispatch and big feature in Columbus Monthly Magazine! The theatre is the only dedicated space in central Ohio for improv|sketch comedy|experimental theatre|standup|alt comedy, andhosts flagship shows & formal training center with Core Curriculum and Bliss Path Electives, an idea designed and led by two world-renowned performers and instructors in the artform – Tara DeFrancisco & Rance Rizzutto. The faculty is knowledgeable and welcoming – whether an instructor, house manager, or coach. The Nest community itself is loving, ethical, welcoming, artistically thriving, and fun. Want to know more about The Nest and regular shows/classes? Head to nesttheatre.com!

Nestivals 2017, 2018, 2019 were awesome – we worked hard to be one of the only festivals bringing working artists to our city by giving small compensation + gifts to all participating teams. In 2020, instead of cancelling during a horrible time for artists, we pivoted quickly and went forward with a virtual festival, making The Nest’s Nestival the *first virtual improvisation festival* in the world! Now, at our fifth Nestival in 2023 – we’re glad to be back together again. It’s been such a long wait, we’ve taken our typical weekend long event and turned it into a 3-Course meal! We built out our beloved new home during lockdown over the course of 2 years, and opened to modified seating in bursts in 2021-2022. Since fall of 2022, we’ve been happily running at regular capacity – so this will be the first festival where we can, yet again, all be together in one beautiful place designed for art for three weekends. Join us for what is sure to be the biggest, funniest lovefest in Ohio – celebrating some of the greatest performers in the Midwest and USA!