Where to catch Tara during the 2024 Columbus Comedy Festival:
Wed August 14 – 7:00pm – Stand Up Showcase at Nest
Thur August 16 – 7:00pm – Stand Up Showcase at Nest
Fri August 16 – 7:30pm – Armando CBUS with Alex Falcone at Nest
Fri August 16 – 9pm – Stand Up & Improv Showcase at Nest
Sat August 17 – 7:30pm – Stand Up & Improv Showcase at Nest
Improv Comic • Columbus
Tara DeFrancisco believes in the power of connection & collaboration of improvisation on a cellular level. She is a veteran performer of 6000+ shows on multiple world-renowned stages, including The Second City (TourCo, Dysfunctional Holiday Revue, Mainstage/etc), ComedySportz (Chicago + CBus), and iO Chicago (Chaos Theory, The DelTones, defrancisCo, Armando, & HERE).
As an instructor, Tara is honored to be brought all over the world for her bohemian yet professional approach to scenework – leading organic Harold, sketch revue creation, duoprov, musical work, stand-up clinics, and more.
Most notably, her greatest love is “HERE: The (Improvised) Musical” – a two person improvisational show called “Nothing Short of Genius” from NPR and rated 4 stars by the Chicago Tribune; HERE been brought to 24 countries and 80+ cities worldwide to headline.
One of the best things she’s ever made with her friends is The Improv Retreat, an event gathering hundreds of US/international improvisers each year for a sleepaway conference with teachers from multiple cities to celebrate their craft, brainstormed and founded in 2012, now many years running.
Additionally – She is the Co-Founder, Artistic Director, instructor & mainstage performer for beloved The Nest Theatre (CBus, OH), a leading performance & educational community in Ohio, producing 35+ original mainstage shows and teams year-round, a space with active COE & “no-paperwork” scholarships for those underamplified in the arts (LGBTIQ, BIPOC, persons with disabilities, vets, and those over 65). She is an esteemed educator who has created curriculum for theatres all over the world, including all mentioned above, and also a liaison on Ethics implementation in artistic homes.
She has been a Guest Professor to the Ohio University School of Performance (Athens), as well as an Adjunct Professor of Acting for Animation at Columbus College of Art & Design. As an artist, you may also hear her in voiceovers (Sirius, Rocky Rococo, Crocs, 7 Little Johnstons), a podcast (Debatables), see her in in commercials or industrials (Sheetz, Dish TV, Vegas.com, US Cellular, Sears, SunTrust), in movies (The Life + Times of An Unhappily Married Man), on Internet Game Show (One Hot Dollar), and here and there in television (ABC Family, LOGO TV). She believes in that the tenets of improvisation & vulnerability of comedy are transformational and life-changing, and hopes she gets to share the joy it has brought her with you.