In Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” Baba enthusiastically encourages his son Amir to fly kites and to defend the record he set as a child for cutting down the most opponents’ kites in Kabul. But in “Kite on the Wind: A Tale of Pakistan,” a collaboration of the Pakistan National Council on the Arts, the Embassy of Pakistan, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, Shahab is the only boy in Lahore who does not own a kite, since his father Rashid forbids him from owning one or attending the kite-flying festival, Basant.

Shahab (Bazil Tariq) is not exactly a model son or a model student. Instead of paying attention in his Pakistani culture class, he conjures up a talking and dancing parrot named Tota (Michael Kramer). He is so enthralled with his invisible friend that he neglects his studies, and narrowly escapes having to deliver a talk on Pakistani tribes when the bell rings. Aware that Shahab is completely unprepared, the teacher angrily assures him that he will deliver the presentation the next day. But like Haroun of Salman Rushdie’s “Haroun and the Sea of Stories,” Shahab’s daydreaming saves him in the end.

Early on in Rushdie’s story, Haroun wonders, “What’s the point of telling stories that aren’t even true?” When Khattam-Shud (which means “end”) wickedly seizes control of the Sea of Stories and clogs up the origin of all tales, Haroun thwarts Khattam-Shud and heroically liberates the stories. Haroun lobbies the assistance of a genie, a hoopoe, and rhyming fish in his battle against evil, and Shahab comes to rely on the Moghul mythological princes, Pate and Karamay.

The Pashtun Foundation’s website illuminates the princes’ story. A holy man came to the king of Bost, who had no male heir, and instructed him and the members of his court to feed some fruit to their wives. The fruit proved to be magical, and 60 boys were born, including Pate, the king’s son, and Karamay, born to the Wazir (high ranking official). “Prince Pate was the wisest, but Karamay was a very naughty little boy,” records the website. “The prince liked him more than anyone else and used to accompany him in every mischief.” Karamay’s mischief gets all 60 boys into a lot of trouble, as indeed happens Shahab.

Pate wisely advises Shahab to keep studying about Pakistani tribes, so that he will not fail his class, while Karamay convinces the young boy to join a cricket game instead of researching, and to go shopping for kites instead of meeting his sister Nabila (Muhsina Khan). For his irresponsibility, Shahab is sent to his room with no dinner, though his grandmother Dadi slips him some food and his father’s private diary. Shahab does not guess the diary is his father’s and is fascinated by the drawings of kites in the book, not unlike his own doodles during class. He decides to try to build a kite like one of the sketches in the diary, so that he can fly kites with his classmates.

The next day, Shahab is called upon to deliver his presentation, and Pate and Karamay assist him by feeding him information on the history and culture of Pakistan’s tribes. They even teach Shahab a dance step (choreographed by Tehreema Mitha) called “Khattak,” traditionally executed with swords, which he performs for the class. His friends decide he is a showoff, but Shahab earns a good mark for the lecture. He then plays hooky and hurries along to the marketplace to purchase materials to build a kite. A blind man, who suspiciously resembles his teacher, sells him some string, and a woman, who looks a lot like Dadi, sells him a parasol and assures him the good deed of supporting an old woman will help him find a kite.

Shahab hurries home and gives the parasol to his grandmother, as his parents reprimand him for again returning late. All seems lost when the parasol breaks in Dadi’s hands and Rashid identifies his diary in Shahab’s bag. But after Rashid, Shahab’s mother Maryam (Saskia De Vries), Dadi, and Shahab speak their minds, the project of building a kite unites father and son, and the broken parasol conveniently provides just the right parts for the construction. 

If “Kite on the Wind” sounds like a story book, that is because several of the actors are in grade school. Bazil Tariq is a student at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church, Virginia. Muhsina Khan is a sophomore at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia. Waleed Khan, who plays Shahab’s friend Bilal, is 17-years-old and was born in Islamabad, as was 14-year-old Altamash Habib Khan, who plays Shahab’s friend Tariq.  Shahab’s other friend Samir is played by Amin Khan, who also moved to America one year ago. The young performers bring a fresh perspective to the play, which is after all a story about teenagers trying to cope in school.

And perhaps most importantly, viewers who attend the performance get a chance to learn about Pakistani culture, courtesy not only of the Playbill, but also a “Cue Sheet for Students,” a guide published by the Kennedy Center’s education department, which provides fast facts about Pakistan, plot analysis, and information on the live music performed by Shubha Sankaran, Humayun Khan, and Haroon Alam, and about the songs sung during the performance (one in Punjabi, the others in Urdu).