In this Playwright Spotlight we talk to David Valdes about his comedy, Up The Ladder, Down The Slide, which was a Eugene O’Neill Finalist and will appear at NNPN’s 18th annual National Showcase of New Plays.

Orlando Shakes: Who or what inspired you to become a playwright?

David Valdes: When I was 9, my aunt took me to see a community theatre production of The Fantasticks in an old opera house in Maine. I still remember one bit of stage magic: the mute using a fishing pole to snag a moon from a bucket, which she then reeled upward into the sky. It was magic and that was all it took. That notion, theater means making magic out of ordinary things, has never left me. Up the Ladder, Down the Slide owes a debt to this, with ladders as the transformable objects.

Orlando Shakes: What is your favorite part of the writing process?

David Valdes: I love it when I am mid-scene and a character says or does something that surprises me. The moment a light clicks on and I realize there were discoveries I had not yet made—that’s a good moment.

Orlando Shakes: What was the specific trigger for writing this play?

David Valdes: It seemed like all at once every gathering of adult friends ended up in discussions of caring for our parents, all at different stages on journeys of cognitive decline or illness. One night, I had a friend drinking wine in my kitchen as she described trying to keep her impaired mother from wandering the town. In the middle of our conversation, another friend texted to say she needed to come over and vent about the anger that accompanied her mom’s new diagnosis of dementia. I met her at the door with a cocktail—and I instantly knew I was going to write a play.

Orlando Shakes: What is the theme or focus of this play?

David Valdes: The focus is life in the sandwich generation—the people with kids who are also “parenting” their own parents during years of decline. The theme is how care giving affects our relationships to others, as well as our sense of self. Good people get angry; strong people burn out; and the toll extends to target others of those we care for, especially since we know they are suffering too. Through all of it, humor is the coping mechanism that makes it all possible.

Orlando Shakes: What four words or short phrases first spring to mind to describe your play?

David Valdes: Dislocation, fear of the unknown, gallows humor, the power of community

Orlando Shakes: Is there something you’d like to write about or see a play about that hasn’t been done before?

David Valdes: I’m always this close to writing a version of Hamlet in a Megachurch with Gertrude as the hero and someone with real agency.

Orlando Shakes: If you are willing to talk about it – what new projects are on your horizon?

David Valdes: My eco-thriller Last Catastrophist opens in a dual premiere in January in Boston (Fresh Ink Theatre) and D.C. (Transformation Theatre Inc). Wandaleria, my female-centered version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, opens in December with Rochester Rep. Company One is developing my play Downtown Crossing, based on interviews with undocumented Bostonians. And I’m in revisions on Much Undone (or, the Denouements), a contemporary follow-up to Much Ado About Nothing, featuring a cast diverse in ethnicity and gender identity.

About The Playwright: David Valdes

David Valdes is the author of plays staged across the US and abroad, including the 2018 Rolling World Premiere of The Mermaid Hour. His 2019-2020 season includes Wandaleria (Rochester Rep), Last Catastrophist (Fresh Ink Theatre and Transformation Theatre), and Mermaid Hour: ReMixed (Boston Conservatory). He is collaborating with Company One on Downtown Crossing, based on interviews with undocumented immigrants in Boston. He has worked with Huntington Theatre Company, IATI/Cimientos, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, and The Theater Offensive, with plays appearing in the Humana Festival, Portland Stage Little Festival of the Unexpected, and New York Theatre Workshop Thursday Studio. As a gay Cuban-American, he’s thrilled to bring intersectional stories to the stage, including Up the Ladder, Down the Slide, a 2019 Eugene O’Neill Finalist.