The cast of “Just Beginning” rehearse one of the production’s musical numbers on May 28 at Theatre Margot in the Johnson Center for Fine Arts at Franklin College. The musical was created by southside resident Laura Krell, and tells the story of women forced to leave France for the New World in the early 1700s, and how they persevered. “Just Beginnings” will debut Friday at the college.
RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Action and adventure swirled like a maelstrom across the stage.
Swords clanged and clattered. Aerialists dropped from the ceilings on ropes and nets. A powerful anthem of defiance rose up from the cast members, united as one.
And that was just a taste of what was to come.
The cast and crew are putting the final touches on a new original musical, “Just Beginning,” which opens Saturday at Franklin College’s Theatre Margot inside the Johnson Center for the Fine Arts. Culled from primary documents and reviving a lost piece of American history, the production tells the story of unspeakable cruelty and injustice, yet also strength, perseverance and love in the French colony in the American South.
Created by local composer, singer, director and music teacher Laura Krell, the musical will hopefully be unlike anything they’ve ever encountered before.
“They’re going to see something they’ve never seen before. They’re going to hear stories that have been buried for 300 years. They’re going to see it told in a way where it literally comes down from the sky and grabs your heart,” Krell said.
Cast and crew have been working tirelessly for months to master the singing, dance, story and in some cases the aerial effects woven into the story.
The process has presented countless challenges, Krell said. But like the historic characters the story unveils, those involved with the production have overcome.
“I’ve said this story is worth everything I’ve got, and I’ve given it literally everything I’ve got,” Krell said. “I think it’s going to be incredible.”
“Just Beginning” was created from a little known piece of American history. In the 1700s, King Louis XIV of France faced financial ruin due to massive overspending. To solve the problem, his advisors convinced him to focus on one of the country’s colonies in the New World — the area around the Mississippi River, including New Orleans.
People could grow tobacco, a lucrative cash crop, and France could rebuilt its wealth relatively quickly. Louis XIV agreed, and soon a plan was hatched to get people to live in the colony. Government officials would put male and female prisoners in chains, proclaim them married and ship them across the ocean to Mississippi against their will.
Krell learned about the revolting piece of history from a social media meme, and proceeded to dive into research about the time.
Piecing together the different first-person accounts from the men and women who were there, a revolting picture came into focus.
Officials were able to sell men on the idea of seeking their fortunes in Mississippi, using promises of fictitious villages and property they would find. But women were much more resistant to the idea.
The French government sent unmarried French women to Louisiana as potential wives for male settlers. These girls became popularly known as “cassette girls,” after the suitcase or cassette containing their possessions they carried to the colony, according to Mississippi History Now, an publication focused on the state’s history.
“They concocted this plan to go to the lady in charge of the women’s prison and see if she can give us any prisoners to send,” Krell said in March. “She was very corrupt, so it became like, paying for women to sentence. There was a huge roundup of all orphans, all marginalized people, immigrants to France at the time, children. That’s where my story begins.”
“Just Beginning” focuses on the first 17 women who were forced to become colonists. Krell sifted through historical records to get a sense of their lives and their situations.
One was a 9-year-old orphaned girl who had been arrested for stealing ribbon, and she was put on the chain gang. Another was a servant who had been impregnated by her master. Krell found an instance of a rich heiress who was arrested after her male relatives paid to have her incarcerated to get her money.
At the center of the musical is a love story between two of the women imprisoned on the boat.
“The material is 90%, at least, out of an old document. This isn’t something I made up at all,” Krell said.
Krell’s script blended primary documents to give the characters their voices. Songs and choreography help move the plot along, while aerialists, who were part of the historical story, add a dazzling aspect to the musical.
“There’s operatic singing and folk singing and rap. There’s rope climbing, aerialists, tap dancers. There’s everything,” said Julie Lynn Barber, one of the performers in the show.
Working with the theater community throughout Indiana, she cast the show with a talented and bombastic group that have captured the charged emotion flowing through the show.
Starting in mid-May, the group moved into the theater and has been perfecting the show ever since.
“It’s been astounding. The amalgamation of art in this piece is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And the amalgamation of these artists and their specialities in different ways is like nothing I’ve seen before,” Krell said. “It’s like being a ringleader trying to bring everything together, and it’s been incredible in every way.”
AT A GLANCE
“Just Beginning”
What: A new musical telling the true story of seventeen women who were falsely imprisoned in 18th century France and sent on a chain gang across the ocean to Mississippi.
Who: Created by Laura Krell, a southside Indianapolis resident and composer, singer, director and music teacher who holds a doctorate in vocal performance.
When: The musical will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, June 14 and 15, and 2 p.m. Saturday and June 15, at Theatre Margot inside the Johnson Center for the Fine Arts on Franklin College’s campus.
Tickets: $35 A VIP option for the June 8 and 15 shows includes front-row seats and cocktail hour with the composer and cast at 6:15 p.m.
Information: justbeginningthemusical.com
