Multidisciplinary artist d. Sabela grimes counts Octavia E. Butler as one writer who has had a profound impact on his life’s work. There are others, such as Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde; however, on this particular day we met to discuss Butler and her influence on his Parable of Portals, which is showing on September 6, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Sierra Madre Playhouse. Tickets are on sale now.
Parable of Portals is a constellation of works that draws from Butler’s personal and professional manuscripts. Each module is autonomous, yet the whole is threaded through and opens up the possibilities for accumulation, reconfiguration (including subtraction) and relation. Each project carries the DNA of the others.
It all began as a short experimental film collaboration between grimes and Meena Murugesan, called “AdiSea DAWNing.” Shot on Catalina, the 5-minute film starred Adisah Grimes, his son, as the sole actor and mover and referenced his son’s name and Butler’s novel, Dawn. It screened at BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in 2018 and at MOCA in Los Angeles in 2019. . . .
Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.
Jessica Koslow 