A new play, rooted in the North Jersey experience, is heading to New York

London, Paris, Greece in 440 B.C. — all have been the settings for plays. Tenafly N.J., not so much.

In Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite," two of the characters keep talking about Tenafly. But that's not the same thing.

Now, into the breach, comes "Teenagers in Love," a new play by Sean O'Connor opening at The Chain Theater in New York June 8 (previews begin June 2). It is set in Tenafly. More, it is very rooted in the North Jersey experience.

"I drove a cab in downtown Tenafly when I was 18," said O'Connor, a Demarest native. "I was familiar."

Around the world

He's seen a lot more of the world since then, of course.

His career as an a writer and actor has taken him around the globe: his play "Broken Birds" was performed in Dublin, two others, "World of Sinatras," and "The Unraveling" are awaiting productions in Paris, he's appeared in daytime drama (“All My Children,” “Another World”), and written for USA Network. He has a lengthy list of awards, a lengthier list of credits.

But "Teenagers in Love" takes him back to his roots. Geographically, and personally.

It's about one-time high school sweethearts (Wayne Maugans, Renata Hinrichs) now in their 60s, who meet after many years, kiss — and are instantly transported back in time to their high school graduation, when they were teens (Jack Rasmussen and Ziggy Schulting) with their whole lives ahead of them. To the night when they hung out with their close circle of friends for the last time — and a murder tore their world apart forever.

"They kiss, and all of a sudden they're back in the bar that night," O'Connor said. "And they relive the night and we all find out what really happened."

All based on real life. Only there was no murder. And the town wasn't Tenafly.

Looking back

In fact, O'Connor grew up in Demarest — and before that in Englewood, where his neighbors as a four-year-old included John Travolta and his brother Joey. "He used to run around my backyard screaming, 'Sean, Sean the Leprechaun!' " O'Connor said. "John, and also Joey and my brother Steve, who was older than me."

They later moved to Demarest, and O'Connor attended Northern Valley Regional High School. The bar — Jack's — where he and his high school friends hung out, in the early 1970s, was actually in Piermont, New York and is now closed. But O'Connor remembers just the kind of night that he depicts in his play. And he remembers — even while it was happening — sticking a pin in it.

"I was a junior, 16, and a lot of my friends were seniors," he said. "One night they were all hanging out and we were listening to Hendrix on the jukebox and trying to be cool for the girls around the pool table, and then, boom! boom! this song from our innocent youth came on."

It was, of course, "Teenager in Love." Dion and The Belmonts.

"Everything stopped," he said. "It reduced us all into kind of embryos with sneakers. It brought us back to this innocent oasis in our hearts. And I remember we all started singing this song, which wasn't cool at this point."

Looking around at all his friends, he realized it might be the last time they hung together as a group.

Capture the moment

"They're going to graduate," he said. "Bobby might go to 'Nam and not come back. Frankie and Nancy were doing too much drugs, something's going to happen to them. Shirley was having a lot of problems. She ended up committing suicide the next year. I'm making up these names.

"And we all sang, we all loved each other, just knowing this was the last time this will happen. It will never be like this again. And a voice in my ear said, 'You gotta remember this man, you're gonna write this one day.' "

That day came 2 1/2 years ago — when he began to put this 10-actor drama together (the cast, under the direction of Debra Whitfield, plays 13 characters). But the real spur had come several years earlier.

"My kids put me on Facebook about eight years ago," he said. "And my entire New Jersey past came back. They were all there. All of a sudden I'm in touch with these people. The memories floated back. That was part of writing the play."

Go...

"Teenagers in Love": June 2 to 17 at The Chain Theatre, 312 W. 36th Street between 8th and 9th Ave. 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (except Tuesday); 3 p.m. Sunday. $28 at www.TicketLeap.com