Vietnam veteran Walter Anderson makes his playwriting debut with an exploration of military life after the battlefield

When Johnny comes marching home again Hurrah! Hurrah! We’ll give him a hearty welcome then Hurrah! Hurrah! In war folklore, Johnny’s story ends at his homecoming. What he and his welcome wagon do after the pomp and circumstance grinds to a halt is the more ambiguous subject of Vietnam veteran Walter Anderson’s playwriting debut, Almost Home, now running at Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre. With an archive of personal experience at his disposal, Anderson implicitly promises unique insights into these enigmatic post-glory days. While he delivers an engaging one-act drama with flashes of compelling humanity, the unexplored depths of Johnny — the so-called all-American hero — are left disappointingly unmined. Jonny Orsini inserts an “h” into his name and becomes our fresh-faced Marine, Johnny Barnett. The Bronx native is just home from Vietnam with only a minor wound to his arm but more than enough mental scars. Removed from the immediate horrors of combat, the reformed hoodlum must choose one of three distinct trajectories for his post-war career. Behind door number one: a position as a Marines drill instructor; number two: a college education; and three: a career on the Bronx police force. Johnny returns home excited about the intellectual possibilities behind door number two, but is coerced into considering number three when he becomes a bargaining chip between his money-squandering father and a blackmailing cop.