"They don’t hold parades back home for truck drivers
and laundry ladies who die in the warzone..."
Based on the author’s experience as a civilian contractor,
Don’t Feed the Cats is an emotionally whirling tale of
life on the edge of the battlefield, smashing live music
by Vic Ruggerio (of The Slackers fame) with writings
and poetry from the frontline.
Don’t Feed the Cats is an emotionally whirling tale of
life on the edge of the battlefield, smashing live music
by Vic Ruggerio (of The Slackers fame) with writings
and poetry from the frontline.
Hey, it’s a business, not the Bible.
CAST & CREW
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Nolan Kennedy (Actor & Co-Producer) Scarlet Maressa Rivera (Actor & Co-Producer) Welland H. Scripps ( Actor & Co-Producer) Vic Ruggiero (Composer & Musician) Phil Nerges (Playwright) Michael C Toomey (Director) Karen Ng (Choreographer) Lynde Rosario (Dramaturg) Steven Brenman (Scenic Designer) Emma Wykes Ruhlig (Costume Designer) |
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Tickets!
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INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, PHIL NERGES
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Writing Kept Me From Obsessing About FearAfter nearly nine years of fighting, the war in Iraq drew to a quiet close on the 18th of December 2011. A simple ceremony took place at the edge of Baghdad’s international airport, not far from the highway along which US troops first fought their way into the Iraqi capital. After the ceremony, the last US troops left the country. In addition to troops from several countries, hundreds of thousands of civilians worked for the Army in Iraq. One of them, Phil Nerges, worked as an inspector of services provided to base camps and convoy operations. He began working in 2004 and spent parts of the following three years there, based at four different camps. He felt disconnected after returning in 2007 and experienced difficulties adjusting to life at home. He contemplated accepting another contracting position overseas, but took a sabbatical to write instead. He noticed that books about civilian workers in Iraq tended to focus on unpopular....
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TIMELINE
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2004: The Iraq War festers in a faraway desert. Phil Nerges arrives in Baghdad as a civilian contractor, known as a camp follower, to provide non-military services to the US Army. He spends two years living at the edge of the battlefield. There is no victory parade when he returns home. Many of his fellow contractors did not. They weren’t even counted as casualties of war.
2006: Phil, suffering from PTSD, takes residence with The Slackers front man Vic Ruggiero in New Jersey and begins to write about his experiences. Vic and Phil decide to collaborate on a concept album featuring Phil’s writings and Vic’s eclectic swath of musical prowess. 2013: After having performed the album many times, Phil and Vic approach Letter of Marque to help with a reading of a new play Phil has written based on the same material. But Letter of Marque is inspired to take it a step beyond that. 2016: Letter of Marque collaborate further with Phil and Vic to turn Don't Feed the Cats into a 40 minute short play to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland! With a live band lead by Vic Ruggiero they premiere the punk rock greek tragedy in NYC on June 16th, before sailing across the Atlantic in August. |
