Naomi Iizuka

Naomi Iizuka (born April 22, 1965) is a Japanese-born American playwright. Iizuka's works often have a non-linear storyline and are influenced by her multicultural background.

Early life and education Naomi Iizuka was born in Tokyo, April 22, 1965. Her mother is an American Latina attorney and her father is a Japanese banker. Iizuka grew up in Japan, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Washington, D.C.

Iizuka attended the National Cathedral School, has her bachelor's degree in classical literature from Yale University in 1987 and spent one year at Yale Law School before eventually receiving her MFA in playwriting from University of California, San Diego in 1992.

Career She has taught playwriting at the University of Iowa and the University of Texas, Austin and was a Professor of Dramatic Arts and Director of the Playwriting Program at UC Santa Barbara until January 2008 when she took over as the head of MFA playwrighting at her alma mater, University of California, San Diego.

Iizuka was commissioned to write Good Kids, as the first playwright to participate in the Big Ten Theatre Consortium's New Play Initiative, which was established to commission, produce and publicize a series of new plays by female playwrights, each of which will contain several significant roles for college-aged women.

Commissioning The Encyclopedia of Asian-American Literature cites Iizuka as 'One of the most commissioned playwrights in contemporary American theater.' Iizuka approaches commissioning through prevalent social issues. She says the university is a particularly good pathway to develop her commissioned work because of the resources and diversity they can offer: 'I believe universities are the great untapped resource in American theatre. In terms of material resources: performance spaces, rehearsal rooms, shops and state-of-the-art equipment. Also, in terms of human resources and the communities you find within universities. If we want to develop artist-driven work that's keyed into the artist's process, that's not a one-size-fits-all process, universities can be a big part in solving that puzzle.'

Iizuka was commissioned to write Good Kids by the Big Ten Theatre Consortium. The initiative is meant to support women playwrights and increase the number of roles for women on stage.

Content and critical response Iizuka's background in classical literature inspires her 'fusing of classical styles and forms to modern and contemporary voices.' Set in Oakland in the 1980s, the play is about a young man who gets out of prison to find his father murdered and his uncle in charge of his mother's house. Through the History of Oakland, California, the play explores the theme of anger and violence in contemporary time, drawing strong parallels to Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Iizuka's Polaroid Stories (1997) is a modern adaptation of the Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus. Iizuka collapses classical literature and contemporary everyday life by making Minneapolis street kids the main characters of the play instead of mythical gods.

Iizuka contemplates what is real and what is authentic in her 2001 play 36 Views. The title refers to nineteenth-century Japanese artist Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Some of the 36 scenes are set in contemporary America while others are set in Japan several hundred years ago. A New York Times critic notes, 'among Ms. Iizuka's well-demonstrated ideas is that human wishes persistently obscure the truth. All by ourselves we make it tougher to know what's what.' Good Kids (2014) The Last Firefly (2011) Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West (2010) Ghostwritten (2009) After a Hundred Years (2008) Anon(ymous) (2006) Hamlet: Blood in the Brain (2006) Strike-Slip (2006) 17 Reasons (Why) (2003) War of the Worlds (Written in collaboration with Anne Bogart) (2000) Language of Angels (2000) 36 Views (2000) Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls (1999) Polaroid Stories (1997) Marlowe's Eye (1996) Skin (1995) Tattoo Girl (1994) Carthage (1994) Coxinga (1994) Ikeniye (1994) Crazy Jane (1992) Portrait of Bianca (1992) Greenland (1992) Lizzy Vinyl (1990) And Then She Was Screaming (1990) Body Beautiful (1990)

Awards 1995 Jerome Fellowship 1996 McKnight Advancement Grant 1998 PEN Center USA West Award for Drama 1998 Princeton University's Hodder Fellowship 1999 Whiting Award 2001 NEA/TCG Artist-in-Residence Grant 2001 Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference 2001 Rockefeller Foundation MAP grant 2004 Joyce Award 2005 Alpert Award in the Arts 2007 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award winner for a playwright in mid-career 2011 Joyce Award