O'side actor reprises role

When Mike Connell first read the script for “Flanagan's Wake,” he laughed so hard he cried. That was two years ago, when he first auditioned for the role of Father Damon Fitzgerald and got the part in a small New York City production of the play. Now, two years later, the Oceanside actor is reprising that role, in his first off-Broadway production.

“Flanagan's Wake” is an interactive play that takes place in the fictional town of Grapplin, Ireland, where Flanagan's neighbors, friends and family have come to mourn his death. But this is by no means a somber production; quite the opposite, in fact. “I play a slightly wayward, Irish-Catholic, drinking, gambling, smoking priest,” Connell said. Fitzgerald and the rest of the characters, including the town's mayor and some of the deceased's old drinking buddies, gather at Flanagan's wake to remember him through story and song. Much of the play is improvised, and the audience plays a pivotal role in crafting the story of Flanagan's life and death.

“Once you walk through the doors, you're in Grapplin, Ireland,” Connell said, explaining that each member of the audience is given an Irish name and dubbed a cousin upon entering the theatre. “The audience decides what his dream in life was, how he died, what his vacation place he always wanted to go to was.” The cast plays off the audience's suggestions, crafting the narrative based on their input. “I'm probably 95 percent scripted, and I'm the only one who probably is such,” Connell said, adding that while the cast works within a loosely scripted framework, audience participation determines a large portion of how the story plays out.

For Connell, who was born in Ireland, the role comes somewhat naturally. He said he mimicked his father's Irish accent for the audition for "Flanagan's Wake," and has been keeping with that method for his performances. Connell and his family moved to the United States when he was eight years old. He has lived in Oceanside ever since, and currently resides there with his wife, Mary, who encouraged him to go on his first audition, and their three sons, George, 21, Michael, 18, and P.J., 16.