←Recommendations of SUMO

Lisa threads myth, humor, and visceral imagery together to tell a story about men's bodies and the souls within them. SUMO's world-building is confident and intentional, with plenty of moving images imagined with love for a curious audience.

Absolutely fascinating play, completely unafraid to create moments on the page that beg to be met with equally exciting solutions in staging. Sumo looks at the deeply unhealthy costs that can be paid by participants in male dominated spaces while approaching its subject with love.

This play is so relatable as an artist. Especially the line "We have to stay in here to forget how insane this is." It made me think about how friends and family outside of theatre remind me how crazy my life choices are. But it is also about the beauty of pursuing something that feels unattainable. The risk of failure is what makes it worth the journey.
I was also very interested in the amount of physical dedication to the sport. As a play, it provides many really wonderful opportunities on the stage.

A quiet and intimate play about a sport so epic and brutal. I love the Dring balances the play between teaching the audience about the history and tradition of sumo and the toll it takes on these specific characters. I have been introduced into a world I knew so little about and that's what great theatre can do. I am in awe of the theatrical images Dring has painted with her words and can only imagine how beautiful this play will be fully staged.

A quiet and intimate play about a sport so epic and brutal. I love the Dring balances the play between teaching the audience about the history and tradition of sumo and the toll it takes on these specific characters. I have been introduced into a world I knew so little about and that's what great theatre can do. I am in awe of the theatrical images Dring has painted with her words and can only imagine how beautiful this play will be fully staged.

A spectacular theatrical world rendered with such clarity and specificity. The tenderness with which Dring writes about these characters is always evident. The story is also told with much humor to balance out poignant moments of pathos, connection, and loss. The aesthetic mix of more naturalistic conversations with awesome movement sequences and lyrical theatrical poetry is also an original and compelling artistic whole. Akio's journey is a concrete anchor that allows expansive exploration of this world. I would so love to see this onstage soon!

A really touching play about a world most of us don't know much about. These characters are so vivid and specific and the world so well drawn.

I was struck by the beautiful theatrical imagery of this play and how much was conveyed with such sparse dialogue. I felt utterly immersed in the world of this play and represents suck a distinct viewpoint and story not often represented onstage. There are so many creative possibilities for bringing this play to life and hope to see it one day!

The community of national & local readers for the 44th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival enthusiastically recommends SUMO as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation out of 755 plays. We were deeply moved by the artistic merits of the distinctive physicality, poetic resonance, and beautifully sparse dialogue as the characters have a strong relationship to each other. We were compelled by the play's promise as it deals with demanding masculinity in this sport with characters and male relationships not often represented on stage. We hope this play is widely read, finds dedicated collaborators, and moves swiftly towards production. #BAPF2021