David Valdes is a Boston-area playwright. His play The Mermaid Hour received a Rolling World Premiere from the National New Play Network with productions coast to coast. Other productions include The Last Catastrophist, Full Code, Wandaleria, Raggedy And, Bully Dance, Widow of Abraham, Brave Navigator, and mutliple shorts. Recent work includes Up the Ladder, Down the Slide, featured in Orlando Play Fest and the National New Play Showcase, and Downtown Crossing, the result of two years of interviews with Boston immigrant communities. He's written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Medium, and Huffington Post, and is the author of multiple books. He teaches playwriting at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, as well as English at Tufts University.