Three Countries, One Mother returns for Borderlight Fringe Festival
August 3 at 7 pm, August 4 at 7:45 pm, and August 5 at 4 p.m.
at CSU Middough Building
Featuring Neema Bal
Directed by Katie Beck
Devised by Neema Bal, Katie Beck, Benjamin Rexroad, Phul Bal, and Lakpa Bal
With musical contributions from Floco Torres and Dohee Lee
Using storytelling, poetry, movement, and song, Three Countries, One Mother examines the history and culture of the Bhutanese-Nepali-American people who were displaced from their homeland as part of the Bhutanese Refugee Crisis in the 1990s and early 2000s. This play is inspired by the true story of Bal’s family– members of the Tamang tribe, an ethnic group in the Bhutanese-Nepali community. The Tamang tribe speak their own Tibeto-Burman language and have a diverse spectrum of influences on spirituality--including Buddhism and indigenous shamanism.
Spanning generations and countries, this deeply personal narrative weaves together family stories and ritual to explore the impact of cultural legacy on an individual. The audience is invited to journey with Neema through his cultural inheritance as part of a quest to better understand himself.
Neema Bal is a former refugee from the Bhutanese-Nepali-American community who resettled in Akron in 2013 and became a citizen of the United States in 2019. He is thankful to be involved in The University of Akron’s Rethinking Race. Neema is a former theatre student at UA where in his first production Big Love, he played himself. He appeared on stage throughout different locations in Akron with Namaste-WHAT?, Denied Admission and Rebranding the City (Gum-Dip Theatre). He has been featured in two public photography exhibits by Shane Wynn and Erin LaBelle. He is space director for Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture. Neema loves to go to trails around Akron with his family, partner, and friends and cuddle with his two cats Dayton and Jilkay.
