Sierra Madre Playhouse Presents d. Sabela grimes' 'Parable of Portals,' Dance Work Based on Writings of SciFi Author Octavia Butler

Sierra Madre Playhouse showcases celebrated trans-media storyteller and movement composer d. Sabela grimes on “Parable of Portals,” a transformative work blending dance, sound, and visual media based on the writings of acclaimed science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, on Saturday, September 6, 2025, 7:30 PM, at Sierra Madre Playhouse. A collaboration with experimental video and movement artist Meena Murugesan, the immersive work dreams Butler’s Parable Series, personal writing, and unfinished manuscripts, into a living testament to the novel’s profound exploration of survival, resilience, and community. Performers embody the aspirations and struggles of protagonist Lauryn Olamina, kinetically sculpting the tenets of Earthseed, her belief system espousing the divinity of change and an astonishing vision for humanity’s survival.

Sabela is known for developing a distinctive movement style called Funkamental MediKinetics, derived from layered dance styles, community building, spiritual practices evident in Black vernacular, and Hip Hop/Street dance forms. Improvisation and collaboration are at the heart of Sabela’s creative practice, inhaling through socio-historical observation, self-examination and speculative meanderings, exhaling through layers of interconnected sonic, visual and kinesthetic arrangements. It embraces the poetics of assemblage, the magic of mutability, and the mastery of misuse. He works closely with Murugesan to invent graphic symbolic systems that inspire sound design and video content. Sabela, on the faculty at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, garnered the 2023 USC Associates Award for Artistic Expression and the 2021 Bessie Award recipient for Outstanding Performer. He was named a 2017 County of Los Angeles Performing Arts Fellow and 2014 Rockefeller Fellow.

Murugesan creates experimental non-linear narratives at the intersection of live performance, video art installation, textile art, and social issues. Blending the practices of improvisation, somatic bodywork, brahminized bharatanatyam, collage, projection mapping, and contemplative documentary, Murugesan centers an anti-racist, anti-caste, feminist, queer, melanin-rich creative liberatory practice. Murugesan is a founding member of the collectives SADA (South Asian Dance Artists, Mellon awardee 2021-2026) and SiriusShapeShifters (with d. Sabela grimes). Murugesan’s dance, video art, and collaborative video projection design work has been presented at Getty Museum, Underground Museum, Broad Museum, MOCA LA, ODC, Abrons Arts Center, Gibney, NYLA, 651 Arts, EMPAC, Jacob's Pillow, SOPHIENSALE, Black Star Film Festival, ICA Philadelphia, Tangente, and MAI, among others.

For tickets ($12-$35) and information, please call 626.355.4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org. Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.