Mahwah Playwright Plans Festival Debut

Only six playwrights from across the state were chosen to have work featured in the 19th annual Jersey Voices festival happening next weekend, and one of them is from Mahwah.

A web designer by day, Omar Kozarsky said he’s been involved in theater since his senior year of high school.

After acting in, directing, and producing shows at the Barn Theater in Montville and other local theaters, Kozarsky said he started writing when he was working on a children’s production.

“It was one of those things where we had a lot of requirements and specifications for what we wanted to do, so I ended up just writing something [instead of using a pre-written piece],” he said.

That sparked Kozarsky to write more, and thus far he has had two of his one-act plays staged. Next weekend’s performance of his latest work, Keli Richards, will be his third.

The show is based on a character in a Gin Blossoms song, and though he won’t reveal too many plot points, Kozarsky said it is about “infatuation and obsession, things like that.”

But, next weekend’s performance will be a surprise to him, too, as Kozarsky said he’s purposefully stayed away from rehearsals.

“Some writers are really hands-on, I’m the exact opposite,” he said. “I’d rather somebody take my piece and run with it,” he said. “They often come up with things that I didn’t even think of.”

Keli Richards also marks Kozarsky’s first showing at Jersey Voices, which is put on by the Chatham Players each summer.

“They have a great facility, and a reputation for putting on great shows,” he said. “It’s an inexpensive night of theater, a nice place to go to if you want something to do and to get out of town for a while, and it’s nice to see shows in their infancy,” Kozarsky said. “You never know if they will go on.”

The 19th Annual Jersey Voices Festival is happening at the Chatham Playhouse starting July 26, with four performances through August 3 featuring six original short plays by New Jersey playwrights.

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