‘Walking play’ about the Dalai Lama celebrates Tibetan culture through music and dance

Jared Kaufman, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

Fourteen years after it was last performed, a “walking play” about the life and teachings of the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama is returning to Minneapolis.

The play, called “The Buddha Prince,” was co-created by theater artist Markell Kiefer and musician Tenzin Ngawang and highlights what they view as the Dalai Lama’s universal messages: Compassion, kindness, truth.

“For us as Tibetans, this is one of the most important stories of all time,” Ngawang said. “For Tibet, it means our heart and soul.”

“The Buddha Prince” opened June 23 and will continue to be performed Thursdays through Sundays until July 9. Shows take place at Washburn Fair Oaks Park in Minneapolis, across from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Tickets are $25 for adults and free for kids, though a pay-what-you-can option is available. Showtimes vary and can be found online at buddhaprince.org.

“The Buddha Prince” dramatizes the early life of the current 14th Dalai Lama, who has led Tibetans worldwide in preserving and connecting with their culture for more than seven decades, Kiefer said.

At age 4, he was identified as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama, and at age 15, when China annexed Tibet in 1950, he suddenly found himself the head of state of a nation in crisis. As a teenager, he was negotiating directly with Chinese ruler Mao Zedong.

After an uprising in 1959, China cracked down further on Tibetan independence activists and ultimately dissolved Tibet’s independent government. The Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, where he established a government-in-exile that continues to exist today.

The walking play format of “The Buddha Prince,” in which the audience follows actors around a large public space to view each scene, makes sense to tell the story, the two creators said. The play could be viewed as a Western interpretation of traditional Tibetan opera and dance performances, which are typically staged outside and nomadically, Ngawang said.

Through physicality and movement, Kiefer said, she hopes “to create a celebratory environment for people to enjoy the moment, to enjoy themselves — and then, mostly, to get inspired about (the Dalai Lama’s) ideas.”

“If you bring someone outside and you connect someone with nature — and with one another — their minds open,” Kiefer said. “Their hearts open. And they can more easily absorb these positive messages.”

The play is produced by TigerLion Arts, an organization Kiefer and her husband run with a mission to connect people with big ideas through storytelling and nature.

Modern Tibetan culture strongly prioritizes music and movement, Ngawang said. When the Dalai Lama set up the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, for example, one of the very first agencies he created was the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts.

Ngawang, who was born in the Tibetan community in Dharamsala, himself performed with the company for over a decade and a half before moving to the U.S. He’s also an accomplished musician; he played in “Kundun,” the 1997 Martin Scorcese film about the Dalai Lama, and also fronts Melong, a Tibetan rock band.

The music in the play, arranged by Ngawang, is a mix between traditional Tibetan songs and new compositions with lyrics translated from Tibetan teachings, including those by the Dalai Lama.

The Twin Cities are home to the second-largest Tibetan community in the U.S., and “The Buddha Prince” provides an entry point for Ngawang to continue teaching Tibetan culture to the next generation, he said.

“Here, it’s the American world,” he said. “We started teaching in Tibetan, talking in Tibetan, but they always respond back in English. … If you don’t get the opportunity to learn and promote and teach, you’re probably going to have kids who don’t know any sort of Tibetan culture.”

Ngawang has never been to Tibet, and he never will, he said. Because of his cultural work telling stories like “The Buddha Prince,” Chinese authorities likely would not let him in.

“Do I want to see? Of course I want to see,” he said. “I will never see it. But then again, do I want to back down from telling the actual story? I would not.”

If You Go

What: “The Buddha Prince,” an outdoor play about the Dalai Lama

Where: Washburn Fair Oaks Park: 200 E 24th St. Minneapolis. Tibetan flags mark the entrance.

When: Thursdays through Sundays until July 9; showtimes vary and are available at buddhaprince.org

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