Now Showing: THE CONVERT

“You drank the Kool-Aid. Wait, what’s vegan for Kool-Aid? Tree sap? Well you drank the tree sap.”

Blacktress and her friend Iyanla are walking out of the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City after just taking in a matinee performance of a play:  The Convert, about a young girl in colonial Africa who falls hook line and sinker for Jesus and abandons her African culture for Christianity and Western ideals.

Spoiler alert:  The whole thing ends in a bloody mess.

“Damn that chick really drank the Kool-Aid didn’t she?”  Iyanla says lighting the American Spirit she bummed from a sort of cute guy standing on the corner.

Iyanla doesn’t normally smoke, but after three plus hours in the theater, the girls have gobbled up every near -edible thing in the bottom of their purses and she’s desperate for anything that might keep hunger pains at bay.

“I know.  Assimilation is a motherfucker.”  Blacktress says, “Now please let’s eat.”

 

Photo Story: Survival of the Fittest

Photo by Miles Orion Feldsott

Each year throngs of actors relocate to the wild wild west to take part in what could be known as the modern day Gold Rush:  the pursuit of golden statues and golden stars on Hollywood Blvd.  If they are at least half as lucky as they are talented, they’ll have a shot in hell.  But leaning on a good smile and a BFA will have the weak clicking their heels back home before their studio apartment lease expires. Successfully navigating the journey requires adapting a skill set rarely taught in theater school.  It’s a business.  It’s a game.  It’s a jungle out there.    Go hard or go home.  But on the road to Oscar there’s a lot of down time.  Be bold.  Be brave.  Be Blessed.  And good luck!   Photographer Miles Feld and actress Diarra Kilpatrick take to Griffith Park to learn how the strong survive…

Click more to see the rest of this photo story…