Naomi Iizuka

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

Iizuka's mother is an American Latina attorney and her father is a Japanese banker. Born in Tokyo, Iizuka grew up in Japan, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Washington, D.C., United States. She has lived in Iowa and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Iizuka attended the National Cathedral School, has her BA 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.[1] 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, UCSD.

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.[2]

Works

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Busy UC Santa Barbara Playwright Honored with Alpert Award in the Arts
  2. ↑ Hammerich, Jenna. "Writing new roles, righting old wrongs : Big Ten Theatre Consortium establishes New Play Initiative to combat gender inequity in the theater". http://now.uiowa.edu/''. University of Iowa. Retrieved 30 March 2015.