Video: SUMO The Public Theater and Ma-Yi Theater Company’s New York Premiere

Entrenched in an elite sumo training facility in Tokyo, six men practice, eat, love, play, and ultimately fight. Step into the sacred world of sumo wrestling, with the New York premiere of Lisa Sanaye Dring’s mesmerizing new drama, SUMO. Akio arrives as an angry, ambitious 18-year-old with a lot to learn. Expecting validation, dominance, and fame, and desperate to move up the ranks, he slams headlong into his fellow wrestlers. With sponsorship money at stake, their bodies on the line, and their futures at risk, the wrestlers struggle to carve themselves—and one another—into the men they dream of being. SUMO is a thrilling new play set in an elite and rarely explored world. Obie Award winner Ralph B. Peña directs this powerhouse drama. 
 
The complete cast of SUMO includes Kris Bona (Kannushi 2), Red Concepción (Fumio), Akira Fukui (Understudy), Michael Hisamoto (So), Ahmad Kamal (Ren), Earl T. Kim (Shinta), Hank Lin (Understudy), Haowen Luo 罗浩闻 (Understudy), David Shih (Mitsuo), Scott Keiji Takeda (Akio), Paco Tolson (Kannushi 1), and Viet Vo (Kannushi 3). SUMO features live taiko drumming by Shih-Wei Wu.