Eric "Pogi" Sumangil
Actor × Playwright × Intimacy professional × Soul worker
Photo Credit: 2019 © Rich Ryan
About Pogi
ERIC “POGI” SUMANGIL has been one of the most often-mispronounced names around the Twin Cities theater community for over 20 years.
Regional acting credits include: The Realistic Joneses, MacBeth, Baskerville, and Airness (Park Square Theatre), The Romance of Magno Rubio, Falling Flowers, and Romeo & Juliet (Theater Mu). Altar Boyz and West Side Story (Chanhassen Dinner Theatres), The Seven and Salsalandia! (La Jolla Playhouse), Cowboy Versus Samurai (Mo’olelo Performing Arts), Anything Goes (Ordway Center), Pride & Prejudice (Guthrie Theater), The Cradle Will Rock (Frank Theatre), The Monkey King (Children’s Theater), HAiR (Pantages), and Bill of (W)Rights and The Pajama Game (Mixed Blood Theater).
He is a two-time recipient of the Playwrights' Center's Many Voices Fellowship. His full-length plays include The Duties and Responsibilities of Being a Sidekick and Kicking The Gong Around. His play, The Debutante's Ball, was produced in 2015 by History Theatre and Theater Mu.
In the spring of 2020, he produced UNALIENABLE, a virtual monologue project-in-lockdown to give voice to Asian American experiences in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, and a co-founder of The Unit Collective, a collective of emerging playwrights of color. He is a recipient of a 2002 Excellence in the Arts award from the Fil-Minnesotan Association, and once got his name on a plaque for eating a 3-pound steak.
On Stage
On Screen
Pogi’s Commercial Reel:
Playwriting
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The Debutante’s Ball
Hoping to connect with her heritage, Ana, a young Filipina American, signs herself up for a local Debutante's Ball that is organized by Minneapolis's Filipino community every year. As she gets to know the other debutantes and their escorts, Ana realizes that there's only so much she can learn about Philippine culture via the internet.
This “Debutante” is a charmer… Playwright Eric “Pogi” Sumangil has captured universals such as teenage angst and rebellion as well as interesting details of the Filipino-American community in which the tale is set — and spiced it with plenty of humor and a dash of poignancy. - Pioneer Press
City Pages A-List
The Current Arts Roundup
MPR Art Hounds
Production History
History Theatre & Theater Mu
Development History
Raw Stages, History Theatre
The Playwrights’ Center
kicking the gong around
In the spring of 1941, classically-trained ballet dancer Dorothy Toy is looking for her first big break. At an audition, she meets Paul Wing, a veteran vaudeville hoofer who may have hit the ceiling of his career. While their differing perspectives on dance bring out their most competitive sides, they also recognize they have a shared dream of making it beyond the Chop Suey Circuit to Broadway and the Movies. Iron sharpens iron in this play with dance written in the style of an Astaire & Rogers film.
Inspired by the true story of vaudeville dance duo Toy & Wing.
Development History:
New Eyes Festival - Theater Mu
Fellowship Showcase - The Playwrights’ Center
Five Minutes
Five Minutes is a short musical that actually comes in at about 7 minutes.
Two women connected by the past stumble into an intimate moment.
Development History:
Flight of Short Musicals - Theater Elision
Rough Cuts, Nautilus Music-Theater
THe Duties & Responsibilities of being a Sidekick
Some heroes don’t wear capes. And when you’re just starting out in the superhero business, the cape is just an extra expense. For Justin, who got into this career to do some good in the world, navigating the politics of becoming a full-fledged superhero means first paying your dues as a sidekick. When it begins to feel as though Justin’s alter-ego Barrelman is doing the heavy lifting while superhero Gentleman Li takes all the credit, something needs to change. And after saving the day makes headlines, Justin needs to figure out who he is without his mask to hide behind
Funny, quirky, and entertaining - Cherry and Spoon
The show is very funny, the actors are great, and the action scenes are awesome. - Wendy Gennaula, TC Daily Planet
Production History:
Barkada Theater Project @ Minnesota Fringe Festival
Development History:
Incubator Showcase - The Playwrights Center
Awards:
Finalist - Free Range Festival, Second Generation
Turo Turo
Ten Minute: On the opening night of her pop up restaurant, Goose, a Filipina Chef recognizes the influential food blogger sitting at table 8.
Awards
Chicago Filipino American Theater Festival (October 2024)
Winner, Entertwine AAPI 24-Hour Writing Contest (June 2021)
Wingman
Production History:
Bedlam Theater - Twenty Ten Fest
Freshwater Theater - Festival of Awkward Moments
Photo Credit: 2019 © Abi Goldenberg
Intimacy
Don Giovanni at MN Opera | photo by Cory Weaver
Intimacy Direction is a set of practices utilized in crafting the physical storytelling of a play or live performance, focused on honoring the boundaries of the performers and creating choreography that is safe and repeatable.
Using group exercises and embodied practices to inform a shared language and understanding around physical contact and individual boundaries, theater makers can approach the work in the rehearsal space and performance bravely and creatively.
Rooted in the foundation of openly discussing power dynamics, boundaries, consent, and accountability, Intimacy Direction is part of a movement toward creating a better working environment for all theater makers involved in a production or live performance. This includes directors, designers, stage management, backstage crew, and performers.
Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, MN Opera | Photo by Dan Norman
Pogi’s approach to Intimacy Direction is to prioritize safety for all theater makers involved in ways that are intersectional, equity-focused, and trauma-informed. Whether choreographing intimacy or addressing content that deals with various forms of oppression, he works to bring to consciousness and supplement the practices around consent, boundaries, and accountability that are already being implemented by those in the room and provide tools to the space to support and advocate for performers, crew members, and the creative team in collaborating to tell stories authentically while valuing the access needs and lived experiences of everyone involved.
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