In February 1835, the cold New Orleans streets come alive with masked Mardi Gras revelers as Lorenzo Belaggio, an impresario at the American Theater, presents a controversial operatic version of Othello. The story takes a dark turn when Benjamin January, a free man of color, hears a slurred whisper in a pitch-black alley, catches a glimpse of a knife, and is injured while attempting to rescue Belaggio from a brutal attack. As tensions rise, January must uncover whether rivalry for audiences or Belaggio’s affections has led to this violence, or if the themes of Shakespeare’s tragic tale—a black man’s love for a white woman—have incited an even deeper hostility.