"Hey Little Walter," written by Carla Debbie Alleyne and performed in Room 122 at Schreiber High School, is one of the most accurate accounts of the drug dealing life to appear in New York Schools in a long time. This play, although it surprisingly was written by a high school student, is of very high quality. The plot and the subplot unite perfectly to captivate the audience when the play is first seen. However, when the play is thoroughly analyzed, as it undoubtedly will be without any hesitation from anyone, the two plots begin to emerge. Additionally, it contained many unusual elements that added to it�s success, such as the minimal use of props to allow the audience to focus on the actors.

The entire play is centered around drugs, with other subjects branching off of the topic, like peer pressure and family issues. Walter, the main character, begins the play with a mystifying monologue that asks the audience multiple questions. As the play progresses, |Walter has to decide whether he will deal drugs or not. When he starts contemplating the decision he has to make, Walter only notices one bad side to dealing drugs. Therefore, urged on by his family situation and friends, he chooses to deal drugs. Although it may seem unrealistic to some for a young man to make this decision in such a short time frame, it works for the play. After Walter makes this decision, he changes drastically into a person that fits perfectly into the drug world. Then, he becomes unrecognizable to his family. While this is taking place, Walter�s younger brother Albert is fighting his own battle. He is depressed because his family doesn�t have enough money for everything he wants, and then he overhears what his brother is getting involved with. Albert therefore decides what he must do. As the play progresses these two separate issues start to become more and more intertwined. Together, Walter�s story and Albert�s story present the audience with a powerful climax and an excellent ending.

This entire play was extremely enjoyable and easy to follow. Two scenes, however, made the play absolutely sensational and distinctive. As the curtain rises, a young man starts the play with a powerful, perplexing monologue. It made the audience ask themselves multiple questions, and the way the monologue was written made it memorable yet easy to follow. This scene captured the entire audience�s attention, and kept them on the edges of their seats for the entire performance. The eighth scene, although not the climax, moves the play forwards and adds drama. Walter meets Albert�s friend Trey and immediately finds out that Trey is just like him. Then, Rakim has second thoughts about dealing due to a family tragedy, but Walter forces him to get his act together. The audience was thoroughly surprised when unsuspecting actions occurred and the true colors of characters were shown. As a whole, the production was highly successful. A huge part of this is, of course, due to the tremendous efforts of the actors, actresses and the director. Behind the scenes making sure everything went smoothly was director Valerie Gokturk. In the lead was Greg Postyn who starred as Walter, with Josh Borrow costarring as Rakim. Actress Polina played Mama in her first production. The role of Albert was performed excellently by Adam Gold. Amy Todd acted brilliantly in the role of Nicky. Stacy Lee, who played Latoya in "Hey Little Walter", has appeared in two other off-Broadway productions. Eric Hirsch was able to capture the Jamaican accent of Trey wonderfully, and brought the play to a whole new level. All these actors made the production very intense, and realistic. The scenery and special effects were minimal, but that worked for this production. Because the audience really needed to focus on what was going on with the actors, too many props would have distracted them. A couple times, people were used instead of props. Which added an unusual but nice touch. The Ghetto Illusion was portrayed accurately, and not lavishly overdone. Flashing lights helped to successfully convey the idea that other objects were present when they were not.

"Hey Little Walter" was surprisingly unusual and interesting. It was an excellent production that would be enjoyed specifically by people in their teens to their thirties. Additionally, it could be used to teach teens that are involved with any type of drug a lesson. Even without actors like these and a setting as wonderful as this, it is clearly obvious that the production would have been successful. Carla Alleyne Debbie is destined for greatness.