The play Kora brings sev­eral stories together to portray the lives of Tibetan refugees living in exile in Nepal and India. The emotional hour-long drama depicts the struggles of the refugees and their hopes to return to Tibet someday. In one scene, the happiness of a refugee’s family with the birth of a son suddenly turns into gloom upon the realiza­tion that the newborn was yet another person the world would label as a refugee.

 

Kora is based on four poems—Horizon, Refugee, The Tibetan in Mumbai and Exile House—in an anthology of short stories and poems by Tibetan author Tenzin Tsundue. Tsundue is a poet, writer and activist, who won the Outlook-Picador Award in 2001.

 

The four poems were translated into Nepali by Che Shankar. Loonibha Tuladhar directs the play while Shreeti Pradhan and Rubin Kumar Shrestha give the background music. In 2008, Tuladhar had directed a version of the play which featured, among other actors, Dayahang Rai and Aashant Sharma.

 

The current version has Bipin KC, Suraj KC, Anish Thakuri, Bipul Thapa, Sami Rai, Sharmila Shres­tha and Sudharshan Khatri in leading roles.

 

The play is being staged at Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali every day at 5:30 pm except on Tuesday. The last show is on June 14.