The Casket Girls

A GOTHIC ROCK VAMPIRE BALLET

Music and video excerpts from Act 1.

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1. ARRIVÉE DES INNOCENTS

New Orleans, 1729. The city is teeming with pirates, thieves, and prostitutes, many of whom were released from overpopulated prisons in France.  At the time, the King of France had thought this would be a good way to populate the New World, but the plan backfired and only contributed to the rapid, moral decay of the city.

And so, the king came up with another plan, sending the daughters of well-educated, well-bred families to marry and bring civility to the colonists.

The young women arrive in New Orleans carrying their wedding trousseauxs that are oddly shaped liked traditional caskets. One young Casket Girl, named Catherine, wears a red ribbon tied around her neck in protest of the guillotine executions in France.


2. MEET THE LOCALS

As night falls upon the port of New Orleans, Catherine, and her fellow travelers Véronique and Élise take in the new world in which they've arrived. As they wait for the formal envoy from the Ursline convent to retrieve them, they are immediately approached, and assessed by the locals.

Catherine quickly gains the attention of a young man named Jean, as two very different cultures clash for the first time.


3. FR. DE BEAUBOIS & THE NUN PATROL

The nuns of the Ursuline Convent, led by the mysterious Father de Beaubois, intercept the Casket Girls. The church acts quickly to separate the girls from any local influence, taking them to live in the convent until a suitable husband is found.

4. THE CONVENT ELECTRIC

The Casket Girls are housed on one of the upper floors of the Ursuline convent school. Father de Beaubois blesses each of them, and demands that they quickly adhere to the ways of convent life.

He takes their wedding trousseauxs and mysteriously seals them shut with blessed nails, locking them away in the convent attic.


5. TIP TOE GO

The father meets and inspects Jean for the first time, as the attraction between Jean and Catherine deepens. Meanwhile, intrigue and alliances grow at the convent, with the sisters vying for influence over the Casket Girls.

6. FLOWERS AND FANGS

Catherine sneaks out of the convent to meet Jean, and again she is pulled further into the energy and attraction of the Locals.

7. RENDEZVOUS DEUX

As Catherine and Jean fall deeper into one another's trance, intrigue, alliances and murder are happening around them. Mysterious forces are at work, and no one can be trusted...

8. FLICKER

The love ballad of The Casket Girls. Lyrics by Cory Gabel, vocals by Heather King.

9. Betrothed

Fr. de Beaubois marries Catherine and Jean in a ceremony at the convent.

10. 88,000 BLESSED SCREWS

The Ursuline sisters go to the attic of the convent to retrieve Catherine's trousseau. But, all three casket-shaped boxes, that the Father had sealed with blessed screws are now open.

What they find will change the destiny of Catherine, and New Orleans, forever.