Slidell native’s musical tells story of gay love during WWII. It’s coming to life on stage.

Ten years ago, Mike Braud was taking a musical theater class at LSU in Baton Rouge and decided to write a love story set during WWII that largely hadn’t been seen on stage or screen. 

The Slidell native would go on to graduate from college, go to pharmacy school and enlist in the Air Force in 2018. The military took brought him to close to home in 2021, and now his family, friends and New Orleans and Mississippi Coast communities can see his creation come to life. 

“One Thousand Words” is playing for two weekends, beginning Friday, April 19, at the Biloxi Little Theatre. Tickets are on sale now. 

The musical tells story of Warren, a war hero, and Daniel, two men who struggle to find companionship in the 1940s and realize their love for each other in a culture that is unaccepting of gay people.

“In the end, the story truly is about people chasing their dreams and trying to find a way to reach their dreams,” Braud said this week between rehearsals at the Lee Street theatre near downtown Biloxi. The play stars Aaron Lind and Karsyn Wentzell. Cuttino Alexander is the director, and Curran Latas and John Van Geen are the composers.

Earlier versions of “One Thousand Words” have been performed in Baton Rouge and Chicago. Since 2017, it underwent a major rewrite and redevelopment, and Braud said the play is now “fully realized, new and improved script after years and years of editing and fine tuning. 

Braud and the play’s three other writers all identify as LGBTQ+, and three of them are in the military.

“I think that’s really awesome that we have that kind of representation telling the story about a WWII veteran that may have never been told,” Braud said.

Braud, who currently lives in Ocean Springs, has always loved musical theater and wrote his first play while he was a student at Slidell High under the instruction of theater heavyweights Scott Sauber and Melanie St. Cyr. 

It’s a dream come true, Braud said, for the musical to be showing on the Mississippi Coast. He’s been an actor at Biloxi Little Theatre since 2021. 

“I did not think there would be a community that would be so open to telling a story like Warren and Daniel’s,” he said. “I was pleasantly surprised by not only Biloxi Little Theater wanting to do this show, but also the massive support of people that wanted to be involved in Mississippi.” 

Braud hopes people from the Coast to New Orleans will come and watch the play and support the cast and crew of more than 45 people.

“If audiences could love it there, then it could be accepted in many other places around the world,” he said.