Lisa Dring’s play SUMO recently received its New York premiere with Ma-Yi and The Public. It was nominated for five Lucille Lortel Awards, including Outstanding New Play (winner of one) and was nominated for three Drama Desk Awards. Their play Kairos recently received a NNPN Rolling World Premiere and had its Jeff Recommended debut in Chicago.
Dring was the 2024 Tow Foundation Writer-in-Residence with Ma-Yi. She won an Edgerton Award, a Broadway World Award for Best New Play, and a Stage Raw/Humanitas Prize. They have been a finalist for the Relentless Award, the Leah Award, the O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference twice, and the Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival twice with one honorable mention. She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Interactive Programming for a piece she co-wrote and co-directed called Welcome to the Blumhouse Live.
While at MacDowell in 2020, they completed drafts of THE SEA and SUMO. She also finished work on LOUISVILLE // KENTUCKY // USA, a commissioned piece for Actors Theatre of Louisville, and completed a pilot called HOME. During her 2026 residency, Dring wrote Public Record for a 2026 production at The Public with Public Works (at the Delacorte Theater). She also worked on Lower Midnight, a play in development with Ma-Yi Theatre, and wrote episodes of Long Winter Nights, a horror podcast series. Additionally, she worked on scripts for Weird, Mariner, and Untitled Hawaii Project.
