See ‘The Buddha Prince’ in this lifetime

Wars, natural disasters, inept governments … couldn’t we all use a lesson in promoting peace and nonviolence, compassion and understanding? That’s exactly what “The Buddha Prince,” a play celebrating the life and teachings of the 14th Dalai Lama, will do when it comes to Minnehaha Falls Park.

Co-written, directed and produced by Markell Kiefer, the production will be performed outdoors as a “walking play” that takes the audience on a journey through nature as the story unfolds around them.

The 14th Dalai Lama was identified as the spiritual and temporal King of Tibet when he was just 2 years old, and immediately entered a rigorous education program and spiritual practice. At 15, he assumed full responsibility as leader of the Tibetan government after the Chinese Communists invaded in 1959. The Dalai Lama escaped to India, where he lives today, leading a government-in-exile and ever committed to promoting world peace, human rights and environmental protections.

“The Buddha Prince” is narrated with excerpts from the Dalai Lama's own teachings and autobiographies, and in fact, 95 percent of the Dalai Lama’s lines in the play are actual quotes by His Holiness. The play looks at his life from his coming of age to the difficulties he experienced, to the teachings he has passed on to people worldwide.

“The basic idea of ‘The Buddha Prince’ is that it tells the story of a point in time, specific events and people,” explains Kiefer. “We look at the Chinese invasion, but the main message and intention is that [war and conflict are] something that's happened over and over again in history.”

The concept of waging war and dealing with its consequences can be applied metaphorically, on a personal level. As human beings, Kiefer believes we fight our own battles when dealing with inner conflict.

“It’s what we do within our internal workings, what we do to ourselves,” she explains. “Anger and hatred are our real enemies. How is this oppressive nature within ourselves destructive to our own being? How do we oppress other people, even subtly, like insulting someone? The main message [of the play] is how to relate to each other as human beings, to work with ourselves and our instinct for anger and war.”

Kiefer conceived of the play in 2001, after she moved from New York to the Twin Cities and was working for the Children’s Theatre Company. “I found out that the Dalai Lama would be visiting [Minneapolis] in May 2001 and I felt inspired to write a story about his life,” she says. “I was always really inspired to find a way to bring my spiritual life into my work in the theater.”

Raised a Tibetan Buddhist, Kiefer grew up in Boulder, Colo. Her mother attended the Naropa Institute (now Naropa University), where she studied theater with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who established the Shambhala Community and was a contemporary of the Dalai Lama.

According to Kiefer, Trungpa Rinpoche's teachings were “a Western version of Tibetan Buddhism—the same basic teachings, but his focus in life was to find a way to communicate the core, basic teachings of Buddhism in a way that Westerners could really connect with.”

Before “The Buddha Prince,” Kiefer co-wrote and directed “Thunderstorm,” about the life of Trungpa Rinpoche. That play was performed on the rocky landscape of the Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, Colo.

Kiefer has a Master of Fine Arts in Lecoq-based physical theater, which is the type of performance staged at Theatre de la Jeune Lune. It’s highly physical theater, focused and expressed through the body to create dynamic images on stage.

In “The Buddha Prince,” 19 performers tell the story and are complemented by live music, dance, masks and puppetry—similar to drama in Tibetan culture, which is often performed outdoors with great pageantry. Some of the elaborate set pieces are from the Silk Road Festival that took place a few years ago on the grounds near the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

The play, which has received an official endorsement from the Office of Tibet, will be at Minnehaha Falls Park in Minneapolis from Sept. 9 to 13 before it moves on to Central Park in New York City. Although it is a “walking play,” the entire route is handicapped accessible. Anyone with special needs should call ahead and assistance will be provided. The play is free, with a suggested donation, and net proceeds will benefit the Tibetan Education Action, a Twin Cities-based nonprofit organization based in the Twin Cities that provides educational, medical and material assistance to rural Tibetan villagers.

“Buddha Prince” runs Fri. Sept. 9–Tue. Sept. 13. All weekday performances will be held at

6 p.m.; Sat. Sept. 10 and Sun. Sept. 11 at 2 and 5 p.m. at Minnehaha Falls Park, located on the Mississippi River just south of the Ford Bridge and Lock and Dam #1. For more information, call 651-224-1673 or go to www.buddhaprince.org.