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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 will include Kris Bona (Kannushi 2), Red Concepción (Fumio), Akira Fukui (Understudy So/Kannushi 1), Michael Hisamoto (So), Ahmad Kamal (Ren), Earl T. Kim (Shinta), Hank Lin (Understudy Mitsuo/Ren/Shinta/Kannushi 2), Haowen Luo 罗浩闻 (Understudy Akio/Fumio/Kannushi 3), 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.
A girl made of glass. Gods and murders. A pack of ghosts. And a secret in a bottle. A kaleidoscope of stories, each short play is a testament to how playwright Caryl Churchill has “remade the landscape of contemporary drama—and earned herself a place among the greats” (The Guardian). James Macdonald directs these wildly inventive new works. The Public’s production marks the first time all four plays will be presented together in North America.
The complete cast of GLASS. KILL. WHAT IF IF ONLY. IMP. includes Japhet Balaban, Ruby Blaut, John Ellison Conlee, Adelind Horan, Maddox Morfit-Tighe, Deirdre O'Connell, Cecilia Ann Popp, Sathya Sridharan, Junru Wang, and Ayana Workman. Kyle Cameron and Anya Whelan-Smith will serve as understudies.
The critically acclaimed team behind the 2021 Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives returns to The Public with the New York premiere of a new musical conceived and directed by Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director Saheem Ali, featuring music and lyrics by Michael Thurber and a book by Tony Award nominee Jocelyn Bioh. A mysterious singer arrives at Moto Moto, a steamy Afro-jazz club in Mombasa, Kenya. She casts an entrancing spell on everyone, including a young man who has returned home from studying in America. Will the big plans for his life—stepping into a political legacy and marrying his fiancée—be upended? Inspired by the myth of Marimba, the Goddess who created beautiful songs from her heartbreak, this is a rousing tale of romance, the supernatural, and the quest towards one’s truest self.
Preliminary casting for GODDESS includes Nick Rashad Burroughs (Ahmed), Melessie Clark (Mosi/Understudy), Amber Iman (Nadira), Arica Jackson (Rashida), J Paul Nicholas (Hassan), Isio-Maya Nuwere (Ensemble), Teshomech Olenja (Tisa/Understudy), Destinee Rea (Cheche), Awa Sal Secka (Zawadi/Understudy), Austin Scott (Omari), Quiantae Thomas (Ensemble), Wade Watson (Ensemble), and Reggie D. White (Balozi). Additional casting will be announced later.
Join us to revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. The Public’s Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director, Tony Award nominee Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater. Be there when the stage lights turn on again at The Delacorte—a New York City classic—with this high-powered production of the Bard’s classic comedy.
The cast for Free Shakespeare in the Park’s TWELFTH NIGHT currently includes b (Antonio), Bill Camp (Sir Toby Belch), Khris Davis (Orsino), Peter Dinklage (Malvolio), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Andrew Aguecheek), Junior Nyong’o (Sebastian), Lupita Nyong’o (Viola), Sandra Oh (Olivia), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Maria), and Moses Sumney (Feste). Complete casting and a design team will be announced prior to the start of the run this summer.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park is one of the cornerstones of The Public Theater’s mission. Since 1962, over six million people have enjoyed more than 150 free productions of Shakespeare and other classical works and musicals. Conceived by founder Joseph Papp as a way to make great theater accessible to all, The Public’s Free Shakespeare in the Park continues to be the bedrock of the Company’s mission to increase access and engage the community.
In 2018, The Public Theater, in partnership with Central Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, embarked on a much-needed revitalization of the 62-year-old Delacorte Theater in Central Park to ensure the longevity of Free Shakespeare in the Park for many years to come. For more information on The Delacorte’s revitalization, visit thepublic.nyc/Delacorte-Revitalization.
THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hell’s Kitchen by Alicia Keys and Kristoffer Diaz. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 64 Tony Awards, 194 Obie Awards, 62 Drama Desk Awards, 63 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 70 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first people and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand--the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land. The Public Theater honors and celebrates the people and legacy of Seneca Village, one of the earliest free Black communities in New York City, which was located in what is now Central Park from 1825–1857.