PARABLE OF PORTALS Comes To Sierra Madre Playhouse In September

Sierra Madre Playhouse will present Parable of Portals, a transformative performance by trans-media storyteller and movement composer d. Sabela grimes, on Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

A visionary collaboration with experimental video and movement artist Meena Murugesan, the performance reimagines the writings of acclaimed science fiction author Octavia E. Butler—particularly her Parable series, personal notes, and unfinished manuscripts—into an immersive, live experience exploring survival, resilience, and community.

In this deeply personal and kinetic work, performers embody the journey of protagonist Lauryn Olamina, sculpting the Earthseed philosophy in motion, while layered sound, imagery, and improvisation guide audiences through Butler’s radical vision for humanity. Joining grimes on stage is dancer and activist Brianna Mims, known for her work at the intersection of dance, abolition, and social justice.

Sabela’s distinctive movement style, Funkamental MediKinetics, emerges from Black vernacular and street dance forms, spiritual practice, improvisation, and collaborative process. His work weaves socio-historical observation and speculative imagination into poetic physical language. As a faculty member at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, grimes has earned major accolades including the 2023 USC Associates Award for Artistic Expression, the 2021 Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer, a 2017 Los Angeles Performing Arts Fellowship, and a 2014 Rockefeller Fellowship.

Murugesan brings a hybrid practice blending improvisation, somatic work, anti-caste critique, and projection mapping into experimental, non-linear narrative structures. She is a founding member of the SADA collective (South Asian Dance Artists) and SiriusShapeShifters (with grimes), and her work has been presented at institutions including the Getty Museum, the Broad, MOCA LA, ODC, Jacob’s Pillow, ICA Philadelphia, and the BlackStar Film Festival.

Mims is an LA-based artist and facilitator whose work spans dance, advocacy, and curation. She centers the body as a site of inquiry and liberation, investigating the interplay of land, self, and community. Her practice is rooted in embodied knowledge, relational connection, and cultural wisdom.