 Hello everyone, bienvenidos al Comedy Carnaval. I'm Emilia Costa-Powell. I am a member of the Latinx Theater Commons Steering Committee, and I'm the event champion for this committee. My first LTC event was the 2015 Carnaval, of which Lisa was the wonderful champion. And I had been to a lot of other new play festivals, but I had never felt welcome at those. And I felt so welcomed at the LTC Carnaval. So it's an honor to have an opportunity to continue that tradition. And I hope everyone here today feels as welcome at Comedy Carnaval as I got the pleasure to feel in 2015. I noticed that when Latine stories are programmed at primarily white institutions, the vast majority feature trauma-porn narratives about immigration, narcotics trafficking, imprisonment, family separation, gang violence. At best, maybe there's over emphasis on narratives of Latine oppression is a well-intentioned desire to foster dialogue about relevant issues. At worst, it feels like a calculated and deeply rooted strategy to propagate harmful two-dimensional stereotypes in order to justify and reinforce the status quo of white supremacy. Either way, I'm over it. And to be clear, because I know we have a lot of artists in the room and online of a lot of different disciplines, I am not against dramatic Latine plays. I just want more comedic Latine stories centering our joy and happiness and showing us as full humans.