Three Countries, One Mother

Show Description:

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 shamanic 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 physical theatre artist who presents the stories of his community in a way that not only reflects and heals the traumas from the past, but also creates a space for reimagining a positive future. He 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.