A Teddy Bear's Tattoo

By C.J. Hirschfield

Oakland resident Phil Wong, 27, is an actor, educator, musician, and comic. He’s also a featured performer in Fairyland’s latest Theatre for the Very Young (TVY) production, “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.” Until the show opened, Phil hadn’t been at Fairyland since he was very young himself. So we were surprised to notice that he sports a tattoo of our Magic Key on his arm.

Clearly, he had come home.

Phil Wong's Magic Key tattoo.

Phil’s parents first brought him to Fairyland when he was 4 or so. “My brain imploded,” he recalls, exaggerating slightly. “The stories I knew were manifested in real life, and my imagination completely opened up.” He credits Fairyland with leading him to a life in the arts, where he has flourished.

Phil’s favorite set was the maze at the end of our Alice Tunnel. He had memorized the Disney “Alice in Wonderland” movie, and there he was, in the story itself.

After graduating from Bentley School, Phil went on to Oberlin College, where he majored in theater and minored in East Asian studies. Returning to his hometown after graduation, Phil worked consistently in theater, mostly for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, where he is a resident artist. He has also performed in several hundred schools over the course of a year. 

Phil Wong (right) as Brother Bear, with Jackie Kappes as Sister Bear, in "Teddy Bears' Picnic."

He’s also worked with Fairyland’s TVY partner, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, where he performed in “Bad Kitty on Stage!” and “Seussical, the Musical.” But he’d never acted for children as young as 6 months, who are part of the Theatre for the Very Young audience. His audition included improvising the making of sandwiches on the Moon, at which he apparently excelled.

Phil was excited to come back to Fairyland, where his very first stop was ... the Alice Tunnel maze. “It’s so much smaller now; it used to tower over me,” he says. (It’s something we hear a lot from adults.) He had never seen the park empty, with animals roaming the meadow (which we allow them to do when the park isn’t open to visitors). Now his favorite thing to do is observe the sense of wonder on the faces of kids entering the park.

The show has been doing very well, and Phil says that his young audience members are the most receptive he could ask for. “The earlier we expose kids to art of any kind, the much more sympathetic and empathetic their generation will be,” he says. He says he’s also impressed with how engaged the adults are.

Phil (foreground) and Jackie Kappes.

Oh, and about that tattoo?

Phil got it on his 27^th birthday, about a year ago. He told me he’d kept a hot-pink Magic Key from his youth for many years, even after it had broken. He says it represented the key to his imagination, “the first creative agency I ever got.”

Once, while he was riding the New York subway system, another rider noticed his tattoo. “Fairyland!” said the stranger, smiling in recognition. “It was bizarre to me that the image resonated with someone all the way across the country,” says Phil. It’s also a symbol of his deep Oakland roots. “It’s getting more important for locals to stay local and not move out,” he says, referring to the city’s rising cost of housing.

 I asked Phil if he knew of anyone else who sported a Fairyland Magic Key tattoo.

“Yeah,” he said, laughing. “My barber, Syd.”

“Teddy Bears’ Picnic” plays in Fairyland’s cozy, climate-controlled performance space Fridays through Sundays through October 29. Advance tickets (required) include all-day admission to Fairyland; go to the Bay Area Children's Theatre site to buy. 

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C.J. Hirschfield has served for 15 years as executive director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation’s first storybook theme park.