Jason, a McGill alumnus and 2006 graduate of the National Theatre School Playwright’s Program, wrote his first draft of GAS as an NTS school project in 2004. At the time, 500 Americans had already died in the conflict. Now, with the play poised for its stage production, there are almost 4,000 American dead with an estimated 600,000 Iraqis killed since the coalition forces arrived to liberate the country. Feeling somewhat removed from these world issues in the microcosm of student life, Jason wanted to write about something larger, something important that was happening to all of us, but chose to address these Olympian issues through the lives of five young US soldiers dealing one day at a time as they are caught in the quagmire of a desert war in a country so unlike their own. He began, as he always does, with one line: “Who’s your Baghdad-dio?” and three days later he had a first draft.

Omari Newton was a part of the original cast when the play was read for the first time at NTS. One of Montreal’s foremost young actors and an accomplished musician with a background in hip-hop and rap, he was able to capture the rhythms and cadence of the character Rocky, and bring his tragic story to life. Lucinda Davis (Cole) possesses that intriguing complicated mix of raw, in-your-face ‘tude’, while retaining a soft underbelly of vulnerability. Brandon Coffey, an NTS 2007 graduate, happened to be available to fill in for a missing actor at a workshop reading in Guy’s apartment and was so dead-on for the character of Josh that Guy offered him the role then and there. Karl Graboshas, who plays the role of Andy, had worked with Jason and Guy on The Contract, and will now was be starring in his second première of one of Jason’s scripts. Ralph Prosper (Trevor) was part of The Pipeline reading last year and has been committed to the work ever since.

Jonas Veroff Bouchard will create the Iraqi desert, sand and all, using the entire pit of the pool at the Bain, with costumes by the accomplished Marija Djordjevic. The production will feature live interactive video mixed with news clips, as well as photos shot by Montreal journalist Robert Galbraith, from the Iraqi war. Jean-François Blouin, the ‘acousmatic’ master creates sound design with Eric Mongerson providing the lighting and Tom Fennario the wall-to-wall (literally) video design. Christine Hidalgo returns to stage manage, after having worked with Infinite this past spring, for the production in the NAC Québec Scene festival.