This Is It: The Last of the First Creative Writing Senior Recitals

Nick Walton introduces Steffannie Alter to a full house.

On April 21, the last of a number of Creative Writing Senior Recitals closed its curtains, featuring Steffannie Alter, Matthew Toffoletto, and Nicholas Walton. But first, an introduction to the penultimate event of HSPVA, the last being graduation.

The overarching idea of Senior Recitals is for the graduating class to display the growth and dedication they have dedicated to their arts and the growth many have inevitably gone through their years at the establishment. The visual artists have an Art Gallery viewing. The Instrumentalists, Vocalists, and Creative Writers have recitals where they perform in front of a live audience. The theatre seniors do the same, except they have “Senior Showcases” which is typical Theatre flair. Nonetheless, hours of effort are invested into each swan song of the graduating class.

At the final Creative Writing Recital, things were started with a series of poems from Steffannie Alter, all of which displayed the magnificent growth and experienced she had garnished at her time at HSPVA (so much experience that she’s going to Rice for a degree in the Humanities). She told stories both old and new, sad and glad, but all left their marks upon the audience. 

A scene from Nick Walton’s one-of-a-kind, near epic proportion, take on Robin Hood.

Nick Walton’s digital media show was a story written by him featuring both a cast that read with his characters voices and images by his brother depicting the tale of Robin Hood’s interaction with the devil himself. As he read, the mood itself in the room seemed to get darker and more intense with each word his mike let go of. 

Finally, Matthew Toffaletto displayed a one-of-a-kind performance as a radio talk host and his take on the world. It was one those performances that’s exquisitely hard to capture with words, because it’s a work based so much on pure timing and realistic execution of dialogue that works of theatre seemed floundering compared to it. Regardless, he did recite a piece towards the end, with a certain tidbit about a bunny that had half the audience reeling in their seats and the other half laughing, the whole point being to make a statement and get the audience’s blood flowing.

In the end there were cookies. Need we say more?