Eric "Pogi" Sumangil
Actor × Playwright × Intimacy professional × Soul worker
Photo Credit: 2019 © Rich Ryan
Photo Credit: 2019 © Rich Ryan
October 7th - 29th
History Theatre
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Keith Hovis
Directed by Laura Leffler
Role: Roy Dunn, Maximo Kalaw, & Ensemble
November 4th - 12th
Minnesota Opera
Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
Music by José “Pepe” Martínez
Lyrics by Leonard Foglia and José “Pepe” Martínez
Libretto by Leonard Foglia
Directed by David Radamés Toro
Role: Intimacy Director
Photo Credit: 2016 © Keri Pickett
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 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.
2002
Fil-Minnesotan Association Excellence in the Arts Awardee
2005
Joined Actors' Equity Association
2009-2011
Many Voices Fellow, The Playwrights' Center
2016
1st Asian American Equity Male Actor to appear at The Jungle Theater.
The Oldest Boy
2020
Elected, Dramatists Guild Regional Rep : Twin Cities
2021
Winner, Entertwine’s 24-hour Writing Contest
Turo Turo
Photo Credit: 2019 © Abi Goldenberg