Laura Aiges 2/5/02

Ms. Gokturk Freshman Studies

"HEY LITTLE WALTER"

People are now constantly ranting and raving about the new one act play, "Hey Little Walter." This play is currently showing in Room 120 of the Gokturk Theater. The author of this new sensation is Miss Carla Debbie Alleyne. When she wrote this, she was only sixteen years old, and now has made it possible for this play to be off Broadway. In modern day, it�s very uncommon for a sixteen year old�s work to be performed off Broadway, so we�re impressed with Miss Alleyne�s new work. This new play gives the message of loyalty and examples to family and of course other deep and significant morals along the way. The fact that Miss Alleyne was sixteen when she created this play, the play can be looked at through a youthful perspective and understood by someone who has experienced the situations that occur in the play. The author claims that the events that happened in the play were compatible to her adolescence, which obviously inspired her. This play gives many deceiving morals. It also contains many aspects and elements that very much foreshadow the ending. As a writer, I feel that the performances of the actors was quite appropriate for the roles they were portraying. No matter, how they acted, the content of the writing was extremely intense and you could understand the real essence of the piece. Therefore, this was a vibrant piece of work.

In the short play "Hey Little Walter," a young teenage boy, Walter undergoes one of the hardest risks ever. He is living in a so-called "ghetto illusion" where poverty and violence is always present. He has a mother, one younger brother, Albert and one little sister, Latoya. He has a close friend, Rakim who invites him on the ultimate journey that can be a risk for him and his family as well. Another person that brings him conflict, is Nicky, his love interest, who unfortunately wants him for money and likes a different guy because he has money. In their environment or neighborhood drug dealing is extremely popular. Walter, knows it�s not right, especially because it sets a bad example for his younger siblings, who he cares about deeply. He mostly though, cares for his mother, who he refers to as "Mama". He wants her to have money more than anyone. Rakim, his best friend tells him about this deal where they are going to make tons of money, so of course Walter, is interested. He�s very tempted to, despite of the negatives sides it can possibly bring him to. He hesitated, but due to peer pressure and Rakim�s relentless begging, he agreed to it. Once he conquered the deal, he changed socially. Now he had money, which showed he�d do anything for it, none the less that it was partly for his mother. He has a different attitude than he had in the beginning which also shows how money really changes people. Apparently, his two siblings knew a little about it. Walter, was not pleased at all. He ends up with an extremely ominous circumstance and leaves his family divided into two. Albert, the young naïve brother, who goes through pressure in school with acceptance from his peers becomes interested in drugs, and Latoya, the younger sister, tries to teach a lesson to her sibling, so what happened to Walter won�t be repeated in his footsteps.

In this play, there was a variety of scenes that occurred. They basically ended up revolving around the same theme. In my opinion, the best part of this play, was the fact that the younger sister Latoya was deceiving in a moralistic way. In the beginning, she seemed like a curious little innocent girl that would talk about things she didn�t know. Then, towards the end, she showed a more mature side of her that made her a strong character. She taught an important lesson to her brother, about thinking about the right thing to do, and realizing the reality of the your natural surroundings. She wanted Albert to realize, they lost something important to them because of drugs, therefore he shouldn�t continue that and care only about that, because he is under the influence by one of his peers. Another interesting part of the play was the twist of the whole thing together and everything happens the way you would least expect it. The negative part of the play is that some of the acting could have been more intense, so you could really feel like you are "in the moment" with the play. The actors needed to project more in some ways and give more enthusiasm, but pretty much they contributed to the essence of the play. The settings changed a lot throughout the play, but mainly kept the "ghetto illusion" environment. Certain aspects of the play that made it a several person perspective, was the different monologues each characters said aloud at different points in the play. This made it possible to understand each of their feelings directly and in some ways, metaphorically.

Overall, this play was very interesting and a very modern piece of work that have a strong appeal towards adolescence dealing with peer pressure, mostly handling drugs, money and family issues. I believe that anyone who could benefit by understanding and learning the moral and message that this play gives out, they will immediately enjoy it. This play had a strong climax at the top, which kept an audience member always wanting more. The ending also left the audience thinking ahead, so therefore, this play is sure to become very successful, thanks to Carla Debbie Alleyne.