Serendipity landed Luminous Thread in Denver. Lucky us: The steampunk performance ensemble brings something to the cultural mix that didn't exist before, augmented by trained operatic voices, a bit of Wellesian sci-fi surrealism and, well, luminous threads — beautiful costumes and sets that echo steampunk's Victorian roots. Led by Ben Sargent, who holds up the business end, and multi-talented artistic director Mary Lin, whose resumé includes everything from writing librettos to fire dancing, Luminous Thread is now gearing up for its original opera, Queen Victoria's Floating Garden of Secrets and Natural Wonders, which opens later this spring with performances in Boulder and Denver. The troupe is promising a rousing sea-bound operetta with adventuring mermaids and sky pirates, malfunctioning steampunk gizmos and even an ecological warning/moral at the end. Rest assured, this is not opera as you've ever seen it before — and that's a good thing.