About us
Who we are
Potluck Improv is a collective, not a company and not a theatre. We gather Barcelona's Global Majority communities on one stage and around one table. Improv is the vehicle. Food is the anchor. The friendships are the actual product. Anyone can play, no experience needed, and the eating is not an afterthought.
The three of us
Nina, Desh and Kai
Nina
“Allegedly I'm in charge here. The room stops believing it about four minutes into the warm-up.”
Desh
“I take exactly one thing seriously, and it's whatever is on the table at the end of the night.”
Kai
“My improv rule is yes-and. My kitchen rule is yes-and-a-second-plate.”
Our mission
Why we do this
Gather Barcelona's Global Majority communities on one stage and around one table — using improv, food, and honest conversation to turn parallel lives into shared ones.
Our values
How the room works
Our culture, in six words:
- Welcome
- Play
- Generosity
- Honesty
- Joy
- Care
And the nine values that decide things day to day:
- Everyone brings something. A dish, a chair, a lift, a story, a language. Contribution is how belonging works here — not a fee, not a credential, not experience. It is also why the collective cannot be reduced to an audience watching a few performers.
- Nobody explains themselves. No one is asked where they are really from, made to translate a reference, or positioned as the spokesperson for their entire community. The default assumption of the room is understanding, not curiosity about difference.
- The room is the point. The show matters, but the show is the excuse. If the improv is sharp and nobody spoke to anyone new, the night did not work. We design every jam so that the eating and talking are as structured and intentional as the playing.
- Yes-and the person, not just the scene. Support in improv is a technique; here it is also a social contract. You back your scene partner, and you back the person who arrived nervous, alone, or new to the city.
- No diversity slots. We decline invitations that use us to demonstrate someone else's inclusivity. If we cannot host on our own terms, we do not appear. Being programmed as a category is the opposite of decentring whiteness.
- Your language belongs on stage. Català, castellano, English, Urdu, Wolof, Tagalog, Darija, Quechua, Romani — an accent is not an error to be corrected and a language is not a barrier to be overcome. On an improv stage, all of it is material.
- Consent on stage and off. You can decline a scene, tap out, or say no to a premise without explanation or penalty. Nobody's identity is used as a punchline, including by someone who shares it, unless they chose it themselves. Guests do not get to test this.
- Hand the mic on. Every person running something is responsible for finding and training the person who will run it next. Founders included. A collective that depends on any individual has failed at its own purpose.
- Joy is not a luxury. When resources, energy, or time are short, we protect the fun before we protect the ambition. A smaller night that people loved beats a bigger one they endured.