Ma-Yi Theater Company, La Jolla Playhouse, and The Public Theater’s co-production of Sumo 相撲 will kick off its Off-Broadway debut at the Public’s Anspacher Theater on February 20, ahead of its March 5 opening night. The show, which has already been extended, will run through March 30.
Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring, the play is set in an elite sumo training facility in Tokyo, where it follows the lives of six men as they engage in training, food, relationships, and combat.
The cast includes Kris Bona as Kannushi 2, Red Concepción as Fumio, Michael Hisamoto as So, Ahmad Kamal as Ren, Earl T. Kim as Shinta, David Shih as Mitsuo, Scott Keiji Takeda as Akio, Paco Tolson as Kannushi 1, and Viet Vo as Kannushi 3. The production also features live taiko drumming by Shih-Wei Wu. Understudies for the show are Akira Fukui, Hank Lin, and Haowen Luo 罗浩闻.
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The world premiere of Sumo took place at La Jolla Playhouse in California in 2023, where several actors, including Bona, Hisamoto, Kim, Takeda, Vo, and Wu, reprised their roles for the New York production.
Ralph B. Peña, who won an Obie Award, returns to direct the New York premiere after staging the world premiere in California. Peña’s creative team from the original production has also reunited, including scenic designer Wilson Chin, costume designer Mariko Ohigashi, lighting designer Paul Whitaker, sound designer and composer Fabian Obispo, hair and wig designer Alberto “Albee” Alvarado, projection designer Hana S. Kim, Sumo consultant and co-fight director James Yaegashi, and co-fight and intimacy director Chelsea Pace.
The Off-Broadway production also features prop design by Thomas Jenkeleit and dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan.
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