John Lee loves to delve into his imagination and see where it can take him. That is one of the reasons why the Orange County native opted to study theatre and the motivation behind his first recently published play, “Mister Neapolitan and the Ice Cream March.”

Lee (’21, theatre), became interested in web development while taking some classes in high school and later figured there must be a more easily understandable and accessible way to teach children and others how to create websites. That inspiration led him to create a world with characters such as Mister Neapolitan, King Chocolate, Tasty Vanilla and Awesome Strawberry. Read more about the inspiration behind Lee’s work.

What is your play about?

“Mister Neapolitan and the Ice Cream March” is a story that introduces how to create a website. This is not the traditional way to teach how to create one. Instead of step-by-step instructions, I created imaginary characters who share how to create a custom website. It’s kind of an instructional manual made for children, and I am speaking through the characters. If a child can read and write, they can understand how to build a website.

How did you come up with the title?

I love ice cream. I love chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla flavors! That's why I created the title. 

Why did you want to write the play?

I created this story just for fun. I had written other plays for school, but this is the first one that I have published and officially copywritten.

What do you hope to do with the play?

I didn’t write the play with plans to stage it myself. I see the play as a learning tool and as a way to generate some passive income with sales of the book.  I am looking to partner up with people interested in teaching others how to build websites in a creative way or who can go to schools and other events and sell the book. I also hope to eventually have it translated into other languages.

How did you come up with idea to focus the play on web development?

I took some web developer classes in high school, and I read some books on web developing. In my play, I summarized what I read and created a compact version of those books. With most of the typical books on web development, you may have to read 20 pages to learn the first step.  I wrote a children’s play to make it simple so that anybody could learn web development. It’s a play, a story, but at the same time, my story is a manual.

What made you choose Cal Poly Pomona and theatre as a major?

I knew I wanted to go to school in the Los Angeles area and got into Cal Poly Pomona. The reason I studied theatre was to learn about acting and other aspects of staging a play or making a movie. The theatre program was fun. It basically consisted of reading stories, analyzing text, and learning analytical and interpretation skills. I performed some monologues while at Cal Poly Pomona, but then COVID-19 hit, which prevented us from coming together. We would do plays from home by combining screens on Zoom. It wasn’t the conventional way you would usually see a play.  I studied theatre for educational purposes. I feel that if I want to stage a play or make a movie, I have some of the credentials needed.