The Backstory
In wake of our successful partnership during the inaugural Pioneertown Film Festival in 2022, I worked with the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles to produce a special live event titled Line 666 in October of 2023 to a nearly sold out crowd. This distinctive evening intertwined spooky short films, songs, poetry, shadow puppetry, short stories, and live foley sound effects, all woven together in a collaborative format. As a former film festival curator, my goal was to fuse the realms of short film programming and theater into one singular narrative. This show, conceived and written primarily by me, sought to offer audiences a new type of experience, transcending the conventional confines of cinematic presentations into a live, immersive, and innovative method of storytelling.
Role: Show Writer, Show Producer, Curator
The Story
Ulysses Parker was an esteemed scholar who left a cozy life in academia in pursuit of archiving our country’s mysterious legends and myths.
He rode horses over desert and ice, sailed our rivers and seas, and took to the rails all in search of the unknown.
What he initially dismissed as folklore quickly became an obsession…costing him his job, his family, and ultimately his reputation.
Among his fixations, none was greater than the story of a phantom steam engine that would depart from the depths of hell…haunting passengers, laborers, and tycoons during 19th century…spawning epic tales and eerie legends that would eventually consume him.
He dubbed this transient train… Line 666.
Check out a teaser for the event
Scan the QR code to access Ulysses’ journal
The station
As guests arrived and made their way into the Autry Museum’s Wells Fargo Theater, they were welcomed by a skeletal conductor who handed out physical train tickets adorned with a QR code. The ticket, more than a mere admission pass to the event, served as a gateway to Ulysses Parker's journal—a repository of musings and revelations surrounding his accounts of the legend of Line 666.
All aboard!
As the theater lights dimmed, the evening's journey commenced with a narration by Ulysses K. Parker (Richard Browning), whose words were poised to set the “rules” of the event. Parker's in-world narrative aimed to guide the audience to what they were about to experience—a tapestry of thematic correlation where each live segment was intricately related to its adjoined short film.
Press play to listen
Two outlaws sing the warning song of the phantom train, Line 666
Still from The Backwater Gospel
Act 1: Warning Bell
The program unfolded as a carefully orchestrated symphony, where audiences were immersed in a dynamic interplay between cinematic storytelling and live performance.
The first segment opened with a live musical performance by ANONYMOUS OUTLAWS (Jonathan Shockley and Travis Harmon from Red State Update, along with guitarist Bryan Dobbs) blaming their crimes on a supernatural train as they were set to face the gallows. I penned the lyrics and worked with Italian composer Ricardo Mazzaglia to compose the music.
The live event then gave way to the loosely intertwined narrative of The Backwater Gospel (dir. Bo Mathorne), an animated short film which features a misfit crooner who warns the town of the coming of a ominous undertaker.
Artwork by Jim Lim
A still from the short film Aurora
Act 2: Stowaway
In the second act, we presented a live reading of the original story,1:34AM. This narrative delved into the desperate attempts of husband JOHN (Jimmy Bacon) to conceal the tragic murder of his wife MAGGIE (Caroline Morahan) while their family wagoned Westward during a harsh winter. Months after settling with his children in the snowy mountains of Utah, John begins receiving letters from his dead wife asking him to reunite at a train station upon the last day of Harvest. Utilizing old-school sound effects and instruments reminiscent of classic radio dramas (expertly performed by Kurt Koller & Daniel McAlister), we aimed to recreate the immersive experience of a bygone era, bringing the Western story to life sonically and with the aid of projected illustrations.
This twisted tale of hidden guilt served as a prelude to the unearthly encounters depicted in the short film, Aurora (dir. Thomas Negoyvan & Aaron Shaps). The plot of Aurora unfolds around the titular Texas town's eerie encounter with a crashed UFO, its origins shrouded in secrets and hidden truths. Just as John struggles to conceal his guilt and secrets in 1:34AM, the townsfolk of Aurora confront their own buried truths, exposing the fragile veil between reality and the unknown.
Artwork by Jin Lim
A brief look at the reading, including a dash of Pam’s puppetry work
Act 3: Wicked Spike
The third live segment of the evening, Beatriz and her Bridge, unfolded as a poetic reverie (narrated Ayla Glass), accompanied by handmade shadow puppetry—a haunting ode to the perils of making deals with dark forces. As the audience was drawn into Beatriz's harrowing journey, the characters and set pieces by puppeteer Pam Severns danced across the stage, weaving a tale of morality and comeuppance.
The themes of Beatriz and the Bridge found its cinematic counterpart in the Colombian short film El Débil (dir Diego Ricardo), based on the famous Venezualan poem. Here, the troubadour's defiance against the devil mirrored Beatriz's desperate bargain for redemption, testing the boundaries between salvation and damnation.
Artwork by Jin Lin
Thanks to the wonderful cast for their talents
Act 4: Terminus
The fourth and final segment of the evening transported audiences into the realms of the afterlife, where the veil between the living and the dead grew thin. Through the live reading of the original short story Rushing Falls (written by Todd Croak-Falen), the audience embarked on a journey alongside ANNIE (Caroline Morahan), a woman bandit whose life of crime led to a fateful encounter with destiny. As Annie descends into the great beyond, the story comes full circle with the evening’s original narratives, bringing back all the characters we’ve met in one final, harrowing cliffhanger.
Concluding the evening was the short film Inverted Cross (Dir. Pater/Son), an experimental exploration of the liminal space between life and death. Across the desolate landscapes of the Arizona, skeletal figures wandered, caught between the realms of the living and the dead, their haunting presence a reminder of the ephemeral nature of existence.
Takeaways
After Line 666 returned to the station, I captured a few reflections…
I was really grateful for the Autry Museum letting me put on the event, and taking a chance at what essentially an unconventional and new experience. Special shoutout to Ben Fitzsimmons and Quyen Tran for their partnership in making this a successful (and fun) event from start to finish.
On a personal note, a lot of my writing work over the past few years has been with a co-writer. While I didn’t expect to do much of the writing alone when I originally pitched the idea, this ended up being a great opportunity to challenge myself and expand my wings with penning three out of the four acts (note: see bullet below), including the introduction and misc. immersive assets.
About three weeks before the event, I stepped aside on the directing duties and invited a friend (Christopher Joseph) to take the reigns on this aspect. I’m so glad to have done this as not only did producing duties get very demanding, but Chris was able to infuse his own perspective and talents to make the creative dough I had been kneading solo for months rise even higher than originally envisioned. Similarly, writer Todd Croak-Falen gave notes on my original take of Act 4 and organically brought forth his own vision (Rushing Falls) that made for a much better and satisfying conclusion.
The only disappointment about the experience was that it took place during single evening, and in 90 minutes…poof…several months of work, planning, and collaboration are over. Quite the comedown!
That being said, I always envisioned this event to be very much as a prototype, and I’d love to find similar opportunities to build out this type of screening experience or expanding the Line 666 show directly. Judging from the evening’s very positive audience response, I feel there is a significant appetite out there in which I could get the train, at least metaphorically speaking, to ride again.