Holly Playwright/Veteran 
Looking to Cast New Play – Footlocker
(MARK H. STOWERS, Aug. 18, 2017)
Holly, MI -When you are a writer, there’s an adage – “write what you know.” Joe Mishler was an infantryman in the Vietnam War and that’s what he knows. Since then he’s produced and directed over 100 shows and musicals, many with a battle or war theme. Currently, he’s looking to cast his newest play, Footlocker on Sunday August 20 and Monday August 21 from 
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mishler is looking for:
One female – 40 to 50 years old
One female – 18 to 24 years old.
Four Males – 17 to 30 years old.
The full-length play will run October 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28 and 29 at the Karl Richter Community Center Auditorium. The 69-year-old Holly resident, is a combat wounded Vietnam vet and retired teacher. He got the idea for the play after being given an Army footlocker that contained items from a Vietnam soldier.
“Most of my plays are about wars. This one is based on a couple of true stories. Basically, it’s a
woman in her 40s who has been lugging around from place to place, a regular wooden Army footlocker from her fiancé who was killed in Vietnam,” he said. “She’s never opened it and then one day she hauls it out in the middle of the room and decides to open it. She is greatly surprised at what happens.”
The play goes back and forth in time from her youth and her fiancés point of view while serving in the Army.
“It takes a look at the long-term effects of war,” he said. “People’s lives are always dramatically changed. This woman had three marriages and when she opens the box she learns all of these things she would never have learned.”
Mishler taught a Vietnam class for high school and was given two footlockers. One had very intimate things as well as full class A uniforms and love letters to two different girls as well as one engagement ring.
For more information, contact Mishler at (810) 348-9960 or email him at jmm1967@comcast.net. He is also looking for behind the scenes volunteers. The play is produced by Mishler’s Blue Heron Theatre Company and the Holly Area Veterans Resource Center.
