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Like the Wind began as a five-minute musical commission from Shotgun Players in California. It was originally entitled, The People We're Meant to Be. The five-minute musical, featuring Alia Cuadros-Contreras as Cai and Mikey Friedman as Bennie, premiered in July of 2021. The full-length show also received a public presentation through the New Musicals Lab at the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News, Virginia in July of 2021. In December of 2021, Like the Wind had a sold-out run at the Brick Theater; the staged reading was directed by Daniella Caggiano, music-directed by Rai Arsa Artha, and stage-managed by Isabel Schwartzberg. All six of the New Musicals Lab performers reprised their roles, with Alia Cuadros-Contreras and Kalonjee Gallimore joining the company as swings.
Like the Wind is a new electronica-pop musical that explores the lives of Bennie and Cai, two queer teenagers running away from a conversion therapy facility in the summer of 2018. Loosely inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, Bennie and Cai choose to change the fate that society has set for them and break through the constraints of expectations and rules. With a queer, female writing team at the helm, Like the Wind explores themes of identity, forgiveness, and queerness in young people.
Renee
Kauffman
"Cai"
John
Byrd
"Bennie"
Sarah
Allbrandt
"Cai's Mother, Farrah,
Adult Woman"
Diego
Bly
"Bennie's Father, Gideon, Adult Man"
Remy
Thompson
"Ash, Emma, Heather"
Matthew Harper
Stevenson
"Dev, Isaac, Attendant"
Alia
Cuadros-Contreras
Swing
Kalonjee
Gallimore
Swing
