Cast / Director Page

Mayda del Valle Mayda del Valle has taken the national spoken word scene by storm. In the last 4 years she has gone from being a virtual unknown to becoming one of the most accomplished and unique voices on the scene, proving her ability as both a writer and performer. A native of Chicago's south side, Mayda began performing her own writing while in high school. She relocated to New York City in October of 2000 after graduating from Williams College with a B.A. in Art. One of Mayda's first stops was the legendary Nuyorican Poet's Café. In spite of never having performed poetry competitively Mayda won the 2001 Nuyorican Grand Slam Championship and went on to the National Poetry Slam in Seattle that August. There she won the Individual National Poetry Slam Championship, and became the first poet from the Nuyorican, the youngest poet, and the first Latino person to win the title. Mayda has been featured on 4 seasons of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. She was an original cast member and writer for the critically acclaimed Tony award winning Broadway production of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and was also part of the national tour of Def Poetry. She has also been featured in various publications including El Diario, Urban Latino, Mass Appeal Magazine, Latina Magazine, Trace, The Source and the New York Times. She has performed at various colleges and universities across the country, and has graced the stages of The Public Theatre, Joe's Pub, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Lincoln Center (in tribute to Tito Puente). Mayda was also part of the Declare Yourself Spoken Word Tour, a national, non-profit, non-partisan campaign sponsored by Norman Lear to encourage young voter participation in the 2004 election. In May of 2004 she showcased her one-woman show at NYC's 3rd Annual Downtown Urban Theatre Festival and won an Audience Favorite Award. Most recently she taped a segment for SiTV's show The Drop and will be featuring in the independent short Speechless directed by Blu Fox (she also wrote the featured poetry for the films lead character). She currently resides in Los Angeles and is continuing work on her show and a CD. >back to cast