|
|
Winner of an Edgerton Award
www.broadwayworld.com/article/HELLS-KITCHEN-REDWOOD-INFINITE-LIFE-and-More-Win-Edgerton-Foundation-New-Play-Awards-20231218?fbclid=IwAR1t3e6k4eJUcZdBqYeRF8rfaxFNsDwqmVu3a_4r7SvDDETg2JGEQ_XTNzU
Winner of BEST PLAY at BroadwayWorld San Diego Awards
https://www.broadwayworld.com/san-diego/article/Winners-Announced-For-The-2023-BroadwayWorld-San-Diego-Awards-20240118
Nominated by San Diego Critics Circle for Outstanding New Play
Review from the San Diego Tribune
Stage Biz
... A riveting, deep exploration of the myriad facets of men, channeled through the lens of culture, tradition and athleticism, told through personal stories of richly fleshed-out fictional characters.
... SUMO could just as easily be a TV series as a theatrical play...
… SUMO is funny, too. It’s a joyous, sometimes raucously so, night at the theatre, as thrilling as a sports match, deep as a drama, funny as a comedy, tender as a romance, and insightful as a history. This is all thanks to the collective that makes it seamless and supercharged, from the incredible ensemble to the terrific creative and production team, especially the soul-probing writing of Lisa Sanaye Dring, the astounding fight direction of James Yaegashi and the masterful direction of Ralph B. Peña who stitches it all together—highly recommended!
New York Theatre Guide
Dring’s writing offers a fascinating, tender, and complicated glimpse into sumo culture
in Japan, with nods to its traditional place in society and the reverence it inspires.
Theatregoers drawn to underdog stories will love young, scrappy, and hungry Akio and
the rest of the rikishi as they wrestle, literally and figuratively, with their own place in
the hallowed sport of sumo.
The Front Row Center
Dring’s exploration in SUMO is both reverent of the sport’s history and paying homage
to its spirituality, while infusing a modern narrative and perspective; looking at the
sport through the lens of very modern characters.
While SUMO is a piece about wrestling and tradition, the play encompasses so much
more about humanity, spirituality, and sacrifice. Sumo, as a sport, is mired in honor
and strength, and Dring’s play dares to ask us where our true strengths lie and what we
value most: winning or community? Can there be space for both strength and
compassion? I would argue that Dring is telling us that winning the battle against
yourself, that in finding community and losing ego, that that is where she (Sumo) truly
lives.
Stage and Cinema
Sumo is quite the achievement—both an education in an ancient tradition and a deeply
moving human story. Through its exceptional cast, striking visuals, and
thought-provoking themes, it cements itself as an original, praiseworthy theatrical
event.
It is a rare treat to be immersed in a world so unfamiliar to many theatergoers. Sumo
not only educates audiences about Japan’s national sport and its deep-rooted Shinto
rituals but also delivers a profound and emotionally charged narrative.
The Daily Beast
The excellent play folds into its structure sumo’s rules and traditions, such as its place
within the Shinto religion. So much besides who wins and loses is revealed as their
bodies lock up.
Times Square Chronicles
In Lisa Sanaye Dring’s moving and visually stunning play SUMO, the stage transforms
into a sacred world rarely explored in Western theatre.
What makes SUMO particularly compelling is its exploration of masculinity, identity,
and vulnerability within the context of a hyper-masculine tradition. While the physical
demands of sumo are portrayed with striking realism, it is the emotional stakes that
elevate the play into something transcendent.
For those seeking a deeply moving theatrical experience, SUMO delivers a story that
lingers long after the final bow. It is a powerful reminder that true strength is not only
found in power and dominance — but also in vulnerability, love, and the courage to
embrace one’s truth.
Vulture
Some of Dring’s finest work happens in her exploration of the love between [Fumio (Red
Concepción), a middle-ranking wrestler at the heya, and Ren (an imposing Ahmad
Kamal), the hardest worker in the stable] — secretly romantic in nature — and of the
wider, platonic yet intensely physical love shared by all the rikishi. As an implicit
celebration of big bodies and of varying, deeply feeling masculinities, Sumo is at its
most beautiful.
www.broadwayworld.com/article/HELLS-KITCHEN-REDWOOD-INFINITE-LIFE-and-More-Win-Edgerton-Foundation-New-Play-Awards-20231218?fbclid=IwAR1t3e6k4eJUcZdBqYeRF8rfaxFNsDwqmVu3a_4r7SvDDETg2JGEQ_XTNzU
Winner of BEST PLAY at BroadwayWorld San Diego Awards
https://www.broadwayworld.com/san-diego/article/Winners-Announced-For-The-2023-BroadwayWorld-San-Diego-Awards-20240118
Nominated by San Diego Critics Circle for Outstanding New Play
Review from the San Diego Tribune
Stage Biz
... A riveting, deep exploration of the myriad facets of men, channeled through the lens of culture, tradition and athleticism, told through personal stories of richly fleshed-out fictional characters.
... SUMO could just as easily be a TV series as a theatrical play...
… SUMO is funny, too. It’s a joyous, sometimes raucously so, night at the theatre, as thrilling as a sports match, deep as a drama, funny as a comedy, tender as a romance, and insightful as a history. This is all thanks to the collective that makes it seamless and supercharged, from the incredible ensemble to the terrific creative and production team, especially the soul-probing writing of Lisa Sanaye Dring, the astounding fight direction of James Yaegashi and the masterful direction of Ralph B. Peña who stitches it all together—highly recommended!
New York Theatre Guide
Dring’s writing offers a fascinating, tender, and complicated glimpse into sumo culture
in Japan, with nods to its traditional place in society and the reverence it inspires.
Theatregoers drawn to underdog stories will love young, scrappy, and hungry Akio and
the rest of the rikishi as they wrestle, literally and figuratively, with their own place in
the hallowed sport of sumo.
The Front Row Center
Dring’s exploration in SUMO is both reverent of the sport’s history and paying homage
to its spirituality, while infusing a modern narrative and perspective; looking at the
sport through the lens of very modern characters.
While SUMO is a piece about wrestling and tradition, the play encompasses so much
more about humanity, spirituality, and sacrifice. Sumo, as a sport, is mired in honor
and strength, and Dring’s play dares to ask us where our true strengths lie and what we
value most: winning or community? Can there be space for both strength and
compassion? I would argue that Dring is telling us that winning the battle against
yourself, that in finding community and losing ego, that that is where she (Sumo) truly
lives.
Stage and Cinema
Sumo is quite the achievement—both an education in an ancient tradition and a deeply
moving human story. Through its exceptional cast, striking visuals, and
thought-provoking themes, it cements itself as an original, praiseworthy theatrical
event.
It is a rare treat to be immersed in a world so unfamiliar to many theatergoers. Sumo
not only educates audiences about Japan’s national sport and its deep-rooted Shinto
rituals but also delivers a profound and emotionally charged narrative.
The Daily Beast
The excellent play folds into its structure sumo’s rules and traditions, such as its place
within the Shinto religion. So much besides who wins and loses is revealed as their
bodies lock up.
Times Square Chronicles
In Lisa Sanaye Dring’s moving and visually stunning play SUMO, the stage transforms
into a sacred world rarely explored in Western theatre.
What makes SUMO particularly compelling is its exploration of masculinity, identity,
and vulnerability within the context of a hyper-masculine tradition. While the physical
demands of sumo are portrayed with striking realism, it is the emotional stakes that
elevate the play into something transcendent.
For those seeking a deeply moving theatrical experience, SUMO delivers a story that
lingers long after the final bow. It is a powerful reminder that true strength is not only
found in power and dominance — but also in vulnerability, love, and the courage to
embrace one’s truth.
Vulture
Some of Dring’s finest work happens in her exploration of the love between [Fumio (Red
Concepción), a middle-ranking wrestler at the heya, and Ren (an imposing Ahmad
Kamal), the hardest worker in the stable] — secretly romantic in nature — and of the
wider, platonic yet intensely physical love shared by all the rikishi. As an implicit
celebration of big bodies and of varying, deeply feeling masculinities, Sumo is at its
most beautiful.
|
|
Entrenched in a training facility for sumo wrestlers, six men practice, eat, love, play and ultimately fight. Mixing ancient, divine ritual with the guttural ferocity of competition, they struggle to carve themselves – and one another – into the men they dream of being. SUMO is a story about the pursuit of the impossible.
