Six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, the axe has just fallen at St. Augustine Church: the archdiocese is about to close the parish and send its spiritual guide, Father LeDoux, away. The church is renowned as the birthplace of jazz and gospel, and a powerful reminder of the history of slavery. The parishioners join forces with local musicians to resist the closure. Father LeDoux, encourages them to pray and negotiate, but they soon realise they must take matters into their own hands and go on the offensive. Shake the Devil Off is a contemporary re-telling of the story of Easter, in a city in which politics, culture and religion collide.