Dennis Christilles isn’t psychic. The artistic director of KU’s University Theatre couldn’t have predicted President Donald Trump’s travel ban when he and his colleagues chose to stage “Anon(ymous),” a modern retelling of “The Odyssey” that explores “the plight of refugees,” Christilles says, at KU’s Murphy Hall this spring.

That decision was made last April, he maintains, when theater department faculty have traditionally finalized season lineups for the year ahead.

“It’s even more sort of pointedly relevant now than it even was when we chose it,” Christilles says of “Anon(ymous),” which opened Friday at Murphy Hall, 1530 Naismith Drive.

Directed by Jason Bohon, a visiting assistant professor in KU’s theater department, “Anon(ymous)” runs through Thursday at Murphy Hall’s William Inge Memorial Theatre.

“The playwright has taken the situation of Odysseus and his long journey home, and sort of juxtaposed that with the plight of refugees who are torn from their homes and find themselves in strange lands and always have a desire to somehow return home,” Christilles says. “And in the case of many refugees, that desire is there no matter how horrible the situation in their home country might be.”

First developed for teen audiences by the Children’s Theatre of Minneapolis in 2006, “Anon(ymous)” tells the story of Anon, a young man who fled his war-torn homeland as a child for a better life in America. Anon was separated from his mother in a shipwreck on the journey to America so many years before, and much of “Anon(ymous)” tells of his search to find her.

It’s not unlike the 10-year odyssey — pun intended — of Odysseus to find his way home, back to his family, after a decade fighting in the Trojan War. Key elements of Homer’s classic also make appearances in “Anon(ymous)” — among them a sadistic one-eyed sausage maker who doubles as the Cyclops monster. But Christilles says audiences won’t need a familiarity with “The Odyssey” to understand and appreciate the universal themes in “Anon(ymous).”

Playwright Naomi Iizuka reportedly imagined Anon as a refugee from Southeast Asia, but in the play, his country of origin is never named. Christilles sees this as a very purposeful move on Iizuka’s part.

“I think that’s the beauty of it. It’s open and relatable,” Christilles says. “And it has a very diverse cast. That, too, helps to open up the play to a kind of global context.”

“Anon(ymous)” is a story about family, identity and, perhaps less obviously, faith, Christilles says. An “all-knowing Athena character” does make an appearance in the play, referencing the Greek goddess’s role as Odysseus’s protector in “The Odyssey,” but Christilles says the faith displayed here isn’t really about religion. It’s about finding “the reason to keep moving on” in the face of seeming hopelessness, Christilles says.

We’re all striving to find a home in which to belong, he adds, which is a theme as relevant and true today as it was in Homer’s time. Christilles doesn’t want audiences to emerge from “Anon(ymous)” feeling as if they’ve just left a lecture about “The Odyssey” or the modern-day refugee crisis. And, he says, with its humor and contemporary language, “Anon(ymous)” stands on its own as an entertaining piece of storytelling that also inspires serious reflection.

If nothing else, Christilles hopes audiences will leave “Anon(ymous)” with a “deeper understanding of the plight of refugees,” he says, “and maybe some other things, too.”

“One thing we see, too, is not just the person who has been forced to leave and is yearning for home, but the people that he’s left behind. And they yearn for him as well,” Christilles says. “So, it’s a two-way kind of thing.”

“I think we’re always trying to find each other,” he adds. “And sometimes we never do.”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with a 2:30 p.m. performance slated for Sunday. Shows on Saturday and Sunday will feature talk-backs immediately following the performance.

Tickets cost $15 for adults, $14 for senior citizens and KU faculty and staff, and $10 for children. KU student tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. They can be purchased at the KU ticket offices, online at www.kutheatre.com, or by calling the University Theatre at 864-3982.