Cam Christiansen’s animated short is a trippy tribute to Canadian playwright and librettist John Murrell. Rather than focusing on Murrell’s plays, or operas, or his translations of Chekhov and Ibsen, Christiansen uses a 13-year-old Murrell to learn about the literature, music, movies, and other cultural influences that shaped the young man and would later inform his work. Not surprisingly, Walt Whitman and Sarah Bernhardt feature prominently; Dennis the Menace and American Bandstand, not so much.

On Tuesday, June 16, at 10 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre; also on Thursday, June 18, at 11 a.m. at Round House Theatre.