By Jondi Gumz
Aptos High alum Steve “Spike” Wong is 71, an age when a lot of people retire, but this is a story he had to tell — it’s heartfelt and dramatic.
Actor Winston Wang as Ernest
After a lifetime of teaching, including two years at Aptos High, he was vacationing in Barcelona when he had a vision about his father and grandpa having a conversation.
Spike was close to his grandparents, having lived with them when he was 3 to 4 in Lincoln Street in Watsonville.
He began typing out this stage play on his cell phone.
“It just came out,” he said.
The story is about his father Ernest, who as a young Cantonese man in Watsonville fell in love and then was called to be a bombardier in World War II.
He was 19.
His bride-to-be, Alice, was 17.
During the war, he sent her letter after letter.
Actress Cynthia Dear as Ma
She saved every single one.
When she died in 2014, Spike found those letters and read them all.
Ernest came home from the war as a U.S. Army Air Force captain, having served his country, but he struggled to be an American in a traditional Chinese home.
In the play, the captain brings home a tragedy that occurred on his last mission.
Somehow the past holds the key to his future.
Spike said while he was thinking of the ending, he thought his grandfather would “save the day,” but instead his grandmother “took over.”
The play, “White Sky, Falling Dragon,” which got its premiere with an all-Asian cast in Mountain View in 2022, was embraced by his family, wife Debbie, and their son and daughter who saw it.
“They were completely and utterly blown away,” he said.
The audience was moved as well.
Actress YinYin Liow as May
One woman, an immigrant from Chile, told him, “The story on that stage is my story.”
Now local audiences, his former students from 23 years of teaching at Watsonville High, his Aptos High classmates, his former neighbors when he lived in Aptos Seascape, his current neighbors in Soquel, and friends of his daughter who lives in Seacliff have an opportunity to see this drama close to home.
It will be staged April 19 through May 5 at Actor’s Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz –with the original 2022 cast.
This will bring together actors from Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Cruz.
One of them is Spike himself, who takes the role of “Pop.”
Could a film be next?
Steve “Spike” Wong as Pop.
Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets are: $35, seniors/students $32 at https://ci.ovationtix.com/35410/production/1173181
In case you wonder how Spike got that name, it happened when he was 18.
He and his friends were going to a ShaNaNa concert.
He got the idea to go as a bowling team, wearing shirts with their names on the back.
He got sequins and glue, and made a big “S” on his when he realized Steve was a dorky name.
Out came “Spike” and that’s been his nickname ever since.
Ernest Wong in boot camp During World War II.
White Sky, Falling Dragon
Written and directed by Steve “Spike” Wong
A co-production from Soaring Dragon Endeavors & Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre
Center Stage • 1001 Center Street, Santa Cruz • April 19-May 5
General admission: $35. Senior/student: $32
Tickets: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35410/production/1173181
Learn more: https://soaringdragon.net
TOP PHOTO: Captain Ernest Wong