Cheerful—By Request

In a post‑war publishing office, an editor pleads for a story that isn’t bleak, asking a writer to craft something “mauve” – bright enough to lift spirits without slipping into sentimentality. The request lands on the desk of Josie Fifer, a woman whose life is painted in shades of gray with a dash of pink, and whose reputation in the theatrical world is as sharp as her wit.

Josie is the unsung custodian of Broadway’s forgotten productions. She tends the closets where the skeletons of failed plays are stored, handling discarded costumes and broken dreams with a sardonic laugh, and she knows exactly when a show has met its final curtain. Her keen eye and dry humor turn the backstage chaos into a kind of quiet theater of its own.

Through Josie’s eyes, listeners are invited into the hidden corners of the stage‑craft world—where the drama of the off‑stage is as compelling as any performance. The tale promises a lively glimpse of a woman who turns the ordinary business of “cast‑offs” into something unexpectedly bright and oddly comforting.