North Jersey officer's play, set on fringes of Iraq War, will premiere in Parsippany
A career Air Force officer from North Jersey will see his play about a remote military outpost in Iraq come to life this weekend as part of a fundraising event to help veterans in need.
Proceeds from Sunday's world-premiere stage reading of "Black Friday," written by U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael O'Hagan, will benefit the Elks Club's Army of Hope, a national nonprofit that aids veterans.
The performance will be held at 3 p.m. at the Parsippany Arts Center.
"It's an amazing opportunity for me," said O'Hagan, a Byram resident with 31 years of combined service in the Air Force and Air National Guard.
Add "the fact that it is taking place around Veterans Day, and then connect it to Army of Hope," and the show "is a home run," said O'Hagan, 51.
The event will be staged at the arts center, on Knoll Road, where Lauren Moran Mills and her LoMotion Live Productions have revived the 99-seat venue previously occupied by the Women's Theater Company, which folded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mills' first new production there was a sold-out stage reading of a 9/11-responder-themed drama in February. That show raised $1,000 for the Boonton Fire Department.
"When I reopened the space, one of my missions was to use the theater to give back," Mills said. "Not just to entertain, but to help."
Written for Adam Driver's Arts in the Armed Forces
From an artistic standpoint, Mills also loves the challenge of developing new works. O'Hagan wrote "Black Friday" for a playwrighting contest organized by Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit founded by actor and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Adam Driver.
O'Hagan, a longtime theater participant, met Mills when she directed him at the Barn Theatre in Montville. He first saw "Black Friday" read in her living room shortly before the beginning of the pandemic lockdown.
Looking for another play to develop and a cause to assist, Mills contacted O'Hagan to dust off his work and bring it to Parsippany, where it could be staged with professional actors in front of an audience for the first time.
Mills, a Boonton Elks member familiar with Army of Hope, figured, "What better way to help these veterans than to tell a veteran's story from the veteran himself?"
Inspired by a YouTube soldier
O'Hagan said he was inspired by a "hilarious" series of YouTube videos posted by a sleep-deprived U.S. Army soldier under the name "Momma Dog" while serving at a checkpoint in Ramadi, Iraq.
"I've been there myself, when you're so sleep-deprived and the humor that comes out of that," O'Hagan said. He spent most of his service with a special operations pararescue wing of the Air Force, deploying to hurricanes and other disaster zones to provide humanitarian aid.
O'Hagan ramped up the drama by moving his fictional soldier to a remote checkpoint near the Syrian border, where he clashes with a new female partner of Asian descent, their interactions shedding a light on prejudice and preconceptions. Things turn darker when a local approaching the checkpoint turns out to be a suicide bomber.
"At a moment's notice, you go from bored to the ultra-stress of a dangerous situation," he said.
The four-character play "builds out" from there.
Two of the characters are named after O'Hagan's children, Brendan and Shannon, who served as his "sounding boards" while he was writing. Another, Sgt. Knox, is named in memory of a former friend and mentor.
"It's funny and sad and a very human piece," Mills said.
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"I've compiled a group of amazing actors who are going to bring his work to life onstage," she added, noting that the audience gets the benefit of "getting to see a play in its incubation stage, being developed."
O'Hagan said feedback from the audience may lead to changes in the script before, ideally, it moves on to a full-stage production.
Admission to the event is by a suggested donation of $20. Visit the "Black Friday" Facebook event page for more information.
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com
Twitter: @wwesthoven
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ veteran's play, written for Adam Driver nonprofit, to debut Sunday
