After the Darklights is an online post-apocalyptic zombie web series written and produced by members of the local theatre and film communities. The series, available for free on YouTube,  is written and directed by Denver’s Michael Morgan. The producer is DCPA Teaching Artist Brian Landis Folkins.

The primary cast includes Emily Paton Davies (Lorelai), Leah Watson (Caitlin), Josh Hartwell (Daniel) and Brian Landis Folkins (Ben). Also featured in Episode 3 are Melissa Elliott, Brian Colonna and Meredith Young. Special effects by Todd Debreceni. Director of Photography Hawk Vaccaro.

The show is self-described as such:

“The world as we knew it ended the night the darklights came. A small few of us, the Survivors, missed them. The majority watched and fell where they stood. The remaining were changed by the lights. They became something else. Savage. Feral. Evil. The Survivors woke to a world where the air hurts to breathe, where sunlight can kill, and the Feral hide in the shadows, waiting for nightfall, where they hunt us relentlessly. We are the last of who we once were, and we’re fighting every minute against a world that wants us dead. Life has become a perpetual Nightmare. After the Darklights…”

Every episode’s closing credits features exit music by a local band. Episode 3 spotlights The Knew’s song “Salvazar,” which also was sampled in an episode of Breaking Bad. The band, which formed in 2005, was a perpetual top-10 finisher in The Denver Post’s former annual survey of the area’s best underground bands. Here is how the band introduced themselves to Post readers in their own words in 2009:

The Knew
Members: Jacob Hansen (guitar, vocals), Tyler Breuer (guitar), Tim Rynders (bass), Patrick Bowden (drums)

Website: theknew.com

Local connection: Tyler grew up in Lakewood and went to college up at CU. Jacob is from Nebraska — his family moved here when he was in high school — and also went to school at CU. Patrick is from Michigan, moved here in 1998 and went to CU. The three of us became friends over a span of a few years up in Boulder and moved to Denver once we all graduated. Tim moved here from Reno, Nev., in 2007 where he ended up working with Jacob. We then became The Knew, and really enjoy being in Denver.

Genre: Rock

When did you know your band was for real? Once Tim joined the band. Jacob, Tyler and I had been playing for a couple of years at that point, the whole time without a bass guitar. We never found a good “fit” personality-wise until Tim came around, and then everything just fell into place. We could finally start playing some real, full rock songs and haven’t changed a thing since.

Favorite local bands: American Relay (R.I.P. 2009), Black Lamb, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club

What are your practices like? Sweaty in the summer, freezing in the winter. We rehearse old stuff for about an hour, chat, drink Tecate and then work on new material until we are too tired to play any more.

PHOTOS FROM THE FILMING OF EPISODE 2:

All photos by John Moore for the DCPA’s NewsCenter.

VIEW PREVIOUS EPISODES:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3

OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF ‘AFTER THE DARKLIGHTS’
Photos from the filming of Episode 2
Video, photo coverage: The web-series launch party

‘After the Darklights.’ Photo by John Moore.