When taste and instinct meet on stage, improvisational theater refuses to be abandoned. Santi Avendaño, Irene Pardo, Alvarito Circo, and Lea Rios form ImproVivencia, a bold quartet that marks a full decade of live performance as the state’s first professional improv troupe to consistently invite audiences to join the ride.
To celebrate, the company plans a four-part mini season, with shows spreading across four Sundays at the Alicante Cultural Hall from September through December, hosted by the Mediterranean Foundation. I am playing opens the loop on September 11, followed by Love, Death and… on October 16, Ladies to Bingo on November 13, and Connecting, a finale on December 11 featuring seven performers on stage. Tickets are already available on Entradium.
ImproVivencia emerged in 2012 as a learning project that used theatrical improvisation as its core tool. Santi Avendaño and Javi Soto started performing in 2014, establishing the company alongside a school. In 2018 Soto departed, and Irene Pardo, Álvaro Circo, and Lea joined the group, each bringing diverse expertise from biology and singing to circus performance and teaching. Avendaño explains that in their theatre, improvisation is not merely a technique but an end in itself. On stage, actors become writers, directors, and living collaborators in a shared creation. The process is addictive, and the idea of leaving improvisation behind feels almost impossible to imagine.
For Irene Pardo, improvisation extends beyond traditional theatre. It sharpens reaction on stage, heightens sensory awareness, and keeps performers fully engaged. The reality of improvisation, she says with a smile, is that when a spotlight lands on the stage, it becomes fuel that is actively exploited by the actors. The result is a performance that feels immediate, alive, and unrepeatable.
A scene from ImproVivencia’s show “Love, Death and …”
Among the ensemble, Avendaño notes that their decade has produced a mix of pure improvisations and works with a clear through-line. Some pieces lean on structure while leaving space for spontaneity. The thrill comes from the live, unscripted exchange between performer and audience, where responses change with each encounter. Loyal viewers have praised the troupe for maintaining evolution rather than repetition.
Approximately eighty-five percent of their dramatic work leans into comedy, a dynamic that often lights up the room with laughter and anticipation. There have been moments when the humor feels so real that performers struggle to keep straight faces, and the audience erupts in spontaneous giggles. One show, Ladies to Bingo, delivered moments that grew beyond planning, turning into shared, unforgettable laughter.
“Ladies in Bingo” showcases four performers navigating a playful, high-stakes bingo scenario, with a final prize that keeps the energy electric. The four titles produced for Alicante have become a hallmark of ImproVivencia’s success, from I am playing to Love, Death and… which pushes aesthetics and mood with music and illustration, to Connecting, a creation born from complete freedom where seven performers connect with three special guests in this unique edition.
Being a pioneer in improvised theatre has its challenges, including the economic and emotional ups and downs that followed a difficult two-year pause. Yet after ten years, the group sees itself both more established and more active in Alicante, with growing recognition across the country and even beyond the Atlantic into Latin America. They’ve even undertaken a compact tour in recent seasons, while remaining eager to explore new venues and creative partnerships around Spain and the broader region they call home, and looking forward to new opportunities in venues like Arniches or the Warden in Alicante.