Jimmy questions his own sexual orientation as his relationship with Vito takes on an erotic dimension, and decides to use his prisoner to exact revenge on his former lover.

The book also features a photograph of Gino Marino, a friend and lover of Kirkwood's upon whom Egan claims the author based the character Vito.

After five previews, the Broadway production, directed by Vivian Matalon, opened on April 7, 1975, at the John Golden Theatre, where it ran for 16 performances.

After changes were made to the script in the early 1980s, the play re-opened Off Broadway at Circle in the Square Downtown with a cast that included Zeljko Ivanek as Vito.

Your Cat Is Dead, which he co-wrote with Jeff Korn and directed, starring himself as the writer, Cynthia Watros as his ex-girlfriend Kate, and Lombardo Boyar as the youthful burglar Eddie.

: Seu Gato Morreu, directed by Jarbas Homem de Mello, and had Teco Tavares - who also produced and translated the play to Portuguese - in the role of Jimmy Zoole and Paula Picarelli as Kate.

The first performance of a German version of the play took place on 29 January 2011 in Berlin at Jüdisches Theater Bimah, directed by Thomas Maul.