Théâtre Improvidence

Thomas Debray, inspired by a visit to Chicago where he encountered Second City and the city's dense improv ecosystem, left a twenty-year corporate career to open L'Improvidence in Lyon in October 2014 with co-founders Melinda Nouette and Peroline Drevon. The Lyon venue rapidly established itself through daily programming, a resident school, and a festival programme, including the Improv Fest which has brought international performers to Lyon. Since its opening the network has recorded more than 10,000 performances and approximately 250,000 spectators. A Bordeaux location opened in 2018, expanding the brand's regional presence. The company's corporate training division, Improvidence Corporate, developed into a substantial business offering applied improv to professional organisations alongside the public performance and school activities.

Theatre Improvidence operates on the conviction that improvised theatre is capable of the same nightly richness as scripted performance, building its programme around variety of format, consistent professional quality, and the energy of total audience co-creation. The venue model treats the theatre as a social space as much as a performance space, with the cafe atmosphere integral to the audience experience.

As France's first dedicated improv cafe-theatre and the originating institution of the Improvidence network, Theatre Improvidence Lyon established both a new institutional model and a proof of concept for commercially sustainable improvisation venues in France.