CONTRIBUTED PHOTO A Marshalltown Post Office employee, Dean Messerly, spends part of his time as a musical performer. He played “Mr. Snee” in the musical production, “Peter Pan.”

The Marshalltown Post Office is set to have one it’s longtime employees star in a theatre production in Urbandale. Dean Messerly — an employee with the post office in Marshalltown for 28 years — is starring in a theatre production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.”

The production is musically-based on the biblical story of Joseph, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Messerly is set to sing the parts of the egyptian butler, Dan, Joseph’s brother.

This production is one of many Messerly has done before. He’s been doing shows in the area for about 15 years.

His interest in doing musical performances started after he saw a note in an article in the Times-Republican newspaper from the Marshalltown Community Theatre about a musical called, “Working.”

“It got me hooked,” he said.

Messerly has starred in a multitude of productions at the Marshalltown Community Theatre. After one of the shows at the playhouse, Messerly said someone came up to him and talked to him about “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.” He looked into the show and decided to apply.

In addition to performances at the playhouse, Messerly has done several theatrical productions with companies based out of Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Madison, Wis.

Messerly is able to schedule his theatrical activities around his duties for the Marshalltown Postal Service.

“The neat thing with the postal service is that you can build up leave time,” Messerly said.

He said this is what allowed him to be able to commute to Madison for that production. However, Messerly’s performance heart remains in Marshalltown. Until the Playhouse is up and running again, he will have to travel to get the chance for the theater spotlight.

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat,” is being played at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. The show is going to run at the same times on the following weekend.

For information on tickets, go to Urbandale Community Theatre Website: https://urbandaletheatre.com/.

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Contact Sam Stuve at 641-753-6611 or at sstuve@timesrepublican.com.