Tibetan Minnesotans celebrate heritage with 'The Buddha Prince'

Local Tibetan actors and musicians in the next two weeks are claiming the spotlight in Minneapolis to honor their heritage through a "walking play" that explores the life and legacy of the 14th — and current — Dalai Lama.

"The Buddha Prince" focuses on the formative years of the Dalai Lama, tracing his journey from his childhood in Tibet to his subsequent escape and exile in India. The highest spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama also is the founder of Tibet's government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India.

"He represents different things to different people, but a lot of people don't necessarily know his story, which is unique and amazing," said Markell Kiefer, creator and director of the play, which was first performed in Minneapolis in 2001.

One familiar face returning this year to the production is Tenzin Legden, who first made his debut in the play in 2009 at the age of 12. Now 26 and serving in the U.S. Air Force, Legden said the play deepened his understanding of his own heritage. He hopes it will also help others learn about the Dalai Lama's teachings.

"Even when I first did the show, and even being Tibetan, I didn't really know a lot about the stuff that went on back then," he said. "Seeing a little bit of the play here and there, you just learn a lot. From small scenes and big scenes."

The outdoor play, produced by TigerLion Arts and the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, opened this weekend at Washburn Fair Oaks Park, across from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in south Minneapolis, and will run Friday through Sunday for the next two weekends.

The performance combines mask work, puppetry, and Tibetan live music and dance. It also incorporates select passages from the Dalai Lama's teachings and his autobiography, "Freedom in Exile."

The play predominantly features Tibetan youth, ages 13 to 15, as actors and musicians. They diligently rehearsed for the grand opening, meeting four times a week in a school's basement gymnasium.

Legden takes on multiple roles in this year's production, playing the six-string Tibetan lute and the dramyin, a string instrument. He'll also play Tibet's national emblem, the snow lion.

"At first I thought I was just going to play the dramyin," he said. "That's all I thought I was going to do for the play — just background music. I'm the snow lion now."

At a recent rehearsal, an array of props were scattered throughout the gymnasium: A life-size snow lion head hanging from a basketball hoop; a row of yak masks, symbolizing Tibet's national animal; and a larger-than-life koi fish, for a scene where the young Dalai Lama encourages larger fish to protect smaller ones. A corner of the gym showcased a mix of Tibetan and western musical instruments.

Audience members are invited to participate in the production by walking alongside the actors, following them to different locations at the park where the story unfolds.

"When we were thinking about how to portray his life story, one of the really inspiring pieces of what [the Dalai Lama] talks about as a young child is his encounter with animals but also with nature," Kiefer said. "So, it felt like having the play outdoors was really appropriate in terms of telling his life story."

The journey of Tenzin Gyatso as the 14th Dalai Lama began with a series of tests in 1937. Monks presented the young Tenzin with several objects, and he correctly identified the belongings of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama.

"As a young child, that's part of how they identify the new incarnation," Kiefer said. "So, we have larger-than-life objects to portray the whole scene of him choosing."

While "The Buddha Prince" was initially conceptualized by Kiefer in 2001, it was her collaboration with Tenzin Ngawang, the director of the music and dance, that moved the play forward.

"There was a very early version of it that was kind of a collaboration with the local Tibetan community," Kiefer said. "Nothing happened with it for a number of years and then we met Tenzin Ngawang in 2005. He really brought the play to life in terms of bringing a more authentic feel of Tibetan music and dance and more traditional costumes."

Ngawang was born in Dharamshala, India, as an exile, and has taught Tibetan dance and music for the last 13 years in Minnesota, which is home to the second largest Tibetan population in the United States. He combined Tibetan and English lyrics when composing the music for "The Buddha Prince," with the goal of preserving the Tibetan language and culture.

"We are living in America, where all the kids are actually speaking in English versus speaking in Tibetan. What I noticed is that we're losing the language of the Tibetan people," Ngawang said. "I just get scared of losing the culture and the writings.

"That's why this play is really important for them to know the story of what the Dalai Lama is saying. He always speaks about compassion … and we need that in the world right now."

For more information on the play, go to tigerlion.org.