2022 LTC Comedy Carnaval

Watch the full video from the convening here

Denver, Colorado 9-11 June 2022

The 2022 Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) Comedy Carnaval, hosted by Su Teatro Cultural & Performing Arts Center, highlighted some of the best Latinx comedic talent in the country in a myriad of formats, including three full-length play readings, a late night of stand-up and solo performances, and three sketch comedy performances. The event had two goals: to introduce national theatre decision-makers to new comedy Latinx plays and talent, and to connect the local and national Latinx theatremaking communities. Read the original convening announcement and see the full list of attendees, agenda, and program.

The 2022 LTC Comedy Carnaval Selection Committee included: Amelia Acosta Powell, Dr. Patrice Amon, Michele Apriña Leavy, Jacqueline Flores, Mica Garcia de Benavidez, Tony Garcia, Norma Medina, Richard Perez, Dr. Gina Sandi-Diaz, Dr. Daphnie Sicre, Eric Swartz, Andrew Valdez, and Lori Vega.

"Yes, our communities are facing injustice and tragedy. Yes, we should address those problems. But one of the most powerful and versatile tools that our communities use to tackle oppression is the power of humor." — Amelia Acosta Powell, Comedy Carnaval Champion

Read More About the Convening:

• Best Medicine: Why We Need the 2022 LTC Comedy Carnaval by Amelia Acosta Powell, HowlRound Theatre Commons
• Why Comedy? Why Now?: On the 2022 Latinx Theatre Commons Comedy Carnaval by Trevor Boffone, HowlRound Theatre Commons
• The hero and his squire ride again in the Denver Center’s vibrant production of “Quixote Nuevo” by Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post

• Por que Comédia? Por que agora?: No Carnaval 2022 Latinx Theatre Commons Comedy, Dial News

Featured Projects:

Exhaustion | Arroyo by Fran Astorga
Three friends escape into the Santa Cruz mountains in search of a place to swim and BBQ. They packed for the beach without realizing they had a treacherous hike down a ravine. Once at a waterhole, the consumption of some shrooms sets the stage for a heartfelt adventure between friends too tired to know how to rest.

La Carpa de la Frontera by CARPA San Diego
La Carpa De La Frontera is a site-specific, tent-like vaudeville touring show which can be taken into communities that are in most need of healing from the current pandemic situation. These performances address issues such as immigration, race, gender, human rights, accessibility, and culture in comedic form using the concept of the old carpa style used in Mexico during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. This unique touring troupe of performing artists focuses on social change, creating a show dealing with social and political issues through a comical platform that anyone can enjoy.

Are You There? by Cristina Fernandez
Cristina Fernandez is a performer, writer, and translator originally from Puerto Rico and currently living in Los Angeles. Are You There? is a stand-up comedy show that mixes video from the 2020 Los Angeles lockdown with live performance. The show pokes at modernity, motherhood, and existentialism. Are You There? shows us how far we've come and how much we're still seeking.

Escobar’s Hippo by Franky Gonzalez
A Colombian town along the Magdalena River plunges into chaos after a flatulent, destructive, easily offended, and sexually adventurous hippo comes to town and wreaks havoc. The crisis worsens when people begin transforming into hippos themselves, causing not only chaos but the beginnings of a revolution where humans are put to death by these new Hipposapiens. As this shifting of civilization unfolds, three friends try to figure out how to deal with the transforming population and solve the connection between the hippos and a notorious drug lord.

Marimacha by Darrel Alejandro Holnes
When an illicit pic outs the daughter of two conservative Afro-Panamanians on their way to a family wedding, the family must finally confront the elephant in the room and decide who gets to define love in and outside the family.

Stand-Up Comedy by Jess Martínez
She’s single, bilingual, and ready to mingle… Well, she’s single. Jess Martínez is a Chicago-based stand-up comedian who enjoys making audiences laugh as she genuinely tries to make sense of the world around her. She is the associate producer of Las Locas Comedy and assistant producer at the Moth StorySLAM Chicago.

The Invocation of Selena by Marilet Martinez & Jessi Realzola
The Invocation of Selena (TIOS) is a sketch comedy and cabaret-style show that explores how cultural icon Selena Quintanilla Pérez continues to inspire and motivate Latine people, particularly women and the LGBTQIA community. Through character monologues, drag, choreographed dance numbers, audience participation, moments of song, and more, TIOScelebrates cultural duality while examining when, why, and how we call on Santa Selena in our everyday lives. At the top of the show, Selena is literally invoked and, in this case, she is a larger-than-life drag queen who guides the cast on this journey to help them find their way in a society that desires to put them in a box. The show also uses biographical information about the artist as well as the 1997 Gregory Nava film Selena as source material to create characters and scenes that tease out our diaspora as Mexicans, Americans, Mexican Americans, pochos, Latines, queers… “and it's exhausting!"

La Egoista by Erlina Ortiz
La Egoista explores the story of Josefina, a rising stand-up comic who takes nothing seriously, and her conservative sister Betsaida, who is suddenly diagnosed with a chronic illness. This surreal one-act follows Josefina through her comedic sets as they unfold in conjunction with the deterioration of her sister's health. La Egoista uses comedy, puppets, magic, and memory to explore the cost of caregiving, the different ways we process grief, and how to find the balance between selfless and selfish. La Egoista was commissioned and developed at Live & In Color.

What Are You? by Milta Ortiz
In the ten-minute solo piece What Are You?, a young muxer finds herself in 1990s Oakland hip-hop culture. People assume she’s mixed: Black and Latina, and she begins to question what it means to be 100 percent Salvadoreña. Is the drum beat an ancestral call? But Mamigrew up in El Salvador and has different ideas.

A Little Bit of Gay by Réal Vargas Alanis
Dive into the queer world with R. Réal Vargas Alanis. A Little Bit of Gay: A Standup Piece by a Homo leaves censorship and code-switching behind to tap into your inner chola and takes you on a journey to a barrio in Central California. Get a glimpse of the life of a homo navigating sugar daddies, queer hookup culture, and religion. Careful though—you might catch “the gay” after experiencing this piece… we can’t blame you though. Gay is cool. A Little Bit of Gay is slated to open during Pride Month. It would be homophobic of you not to support. #🌈 [Warning: This stand-up piece is not for the prudes—you will hear about the time they went to urgent care because they damaged their throat glock glockn’ on turkey necks.]

HOLY KIT KAT by Katie Ventura
HOLY KIT KAT is an emotional dramedy following a first-gen Chicana YouTuber coming to grips with Catholicism and generational curses of her Mexican lineage while being queer. Told in vignettes, we follow her as a teen and young adult trying to define who she is inside/out.

Click here to see the cast lists.