Kora, a play that weaves together several stories of Tibetan refugees living in exile in Nepal and India, opens today, May 31, at Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali.

Kora is based on four poems—Horizon, Refugee, The Tibetan in Mumbai and Exile House—included in Tibetan author Tenzin Tsundue’s anthology of short stories and poems of the same name.

Winner of the Outlook-Picador Award for Non-Fiction in 2001, Tsundue is a poet, writer and Tibetan activist. Tsundue has four books under his belt so far—Crossing the Border (1999), Kora (2002), Semshook (2007), and Tsen-göl (2012), which all deal with the plights of Tibetan refugees.

Kora is directed by Loonibha Tuladhar, who also directed a version of the play back in 2008 with the alumini of Actors’ Studio, Dayahang Rai, Rojina Sitaula, Sirjana Subba, and Aashant Sharma, among others.

“Kora, the play, is created by improvising on the four poems written by the author. The play is not a representation of four poems separately, we have tried to seamlessly blend the acts. And while two of the poems are interpreted in an abstract way, two are realistic in their story telling,” Tuladhar said. “The play is an attempt in exploring the struggle, fear and plights of the Tibetan refugees living in exile in parts of Nepal and India.”

The poems included in Kora are translated into Nepali by Che Shankar. Kora features music by Shreeti Pradhan and Rubin Kumar Shrestha. The play’s ensemble includes actors Bipin KC, Suraj KC, Anish Thakuri, Bipul Thapa, Sami Rai, Sharmila Shrestha, and Sudarshan Khatri, among others.

Kora will be on stage at Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali every day at 5:30pm (except Tuesday), till June 14.