What do you think?
Rate this book
36 Views: A Play
In this acclaimed play, Naomi Iizuka has created a carefully textured exploration of the meaning of truth-not just in the art world, but in personal relationships as well. At its heart is an art dealer and an art historian who discover what they think is an ancient manuscript-a priceless Japanese pillow book. As they try to learn whether it's authentic, their search becomes an erotic game of greed, love, and mental hide-and-seek.
105 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
55 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Iizuka
20 books6 followersNaomi Iizuka's most recent play, 17 Reasons (Why), was produced at Campo Santo + Intersection for the Arts and published by Stage and Screen in the anthology Breaking Ground: Adventurous Plays By Adventurous Theatres, edited by Kent Nicholson. Her other plays include 36 Views; Polaroid Stories; Language of Angels; War of the Worlds (written in collaboration with Anne Bogart and SITI Company); Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls; Tattoo Girl; and Skin. Ms. Iizuka's plays have been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Campo Santo + Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco; the Dallas Theatre Center and Undermain Theatre in Dallas; Frontera@Hyde Park in Austin; Printer's Devil and Annex in Seattle; NYSF/Joseph Papp Public Theatre, GeVa Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Soho Rep, and Tectonic Theatre in New York; San Diego's Sledgehammer Theatre; Northern Light Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta; Alternate Theatre in Montreal; and the Edinburgh Festival. Her plays have been workshopped by San Jose Rep, GeVa Theatre, Bread Loaf, Sundance Theatre Lab, A.S.K. Theatre Projects, the McCarter Theatre, Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre, the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival, Midwest PlayLabs, En Garde Arts/P.S. 122, and New York Theatre Workshop.
Language of Angels was published in TheatreForum; War of the Worlds and Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls were published by Smith and Kraus; Tattoo Girl is included in From The Other Side of the Century, published by Sun and Moon; and Skin is included in Out of the Fringe, published by TCG. Polaroid Stories is published by Dramatic Publishing, and Language of Angels, Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Anon(ymous), and Tattoo Girl are published by Playscripts, Inc. 36 Views was published in American Theatre and has since been published by Overlook Press.
Ms. Iizuka is currently working on commissions from the Guthrie Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Kennedy Center, the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis, and the Mark Taper Forum. She is a member of New Dramatists and the recipient of a Whiting Award, a Rockefeller Foundation MAP grant, a Gerbode Foundation Fellowship, an NEA/TCG Artist-in-Residence grant, a McKnight Fellowship, a PEN Center USA West Award for Drama, the Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference, Princeton University's Hodder Fellowship, and a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship. Ms. Iizuka has taught playwriting at the University of Iowa and the University of Texas, Austin, and currently teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Language of Angels was published in TheatreForum; War of the Worlds and Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls were published by Smith and Kraus; Tattoo Girl is included in From The Other Side of the Century, published by Sun and Moon; and Skin is included in Out of the Fringe, published by TCG. Polaroid Stories is published by Dramatic Publishing, and Language of Angels, Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls, Anon(ymous), and Tattoo Girl are published by Playscripts, Inc. 36 Views was published in American Theatre and has since been published by Overlook Press.
Ms. Iizuka is currently working on commissions from the Guthrie Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Kennedy Center, the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis, and the Mark Taper Forum. She is a member of New Dramatists and the recipient of a Whiting Award, a Rockefeller Foundation MAP grant, a Gerbode Foundation Fellowship, an NEA/TCG Artist-in-Residence grant, a McKnight Fellowship, a PEN Center USA West Award for Drama, the Stavis Award from the National Theatre Conference, Princeton University's Hodder Fellowship, and a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship. Ms. Iizuka has taught playwriting at the University of Iowa and the University of Texas, Austin, and currently teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 7, 2025
I feel like this is probably more profound than I’m truly capable of understanding because of my limited knowledge of the allusions. Overall I think it’s well done but gets a little heady at points and lacks a ton of dramatic tension. (Then again I knew the ending going into it). Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it.
December 2, 2024
The best play we have read yet. It was fine. Good underlying themes of authenticity.
September 23, 2021
my world history teacher would be happy i read this
May 7, 2013
A disclaimer: I read this book for class, and some people absolutely LOVED it. I, however, did not.
The play is about art, perception, and beauty: how do we assign value to something? Its age, its provenance, its subjective worth?
The play is 36 views of the same thing (like the 36(ish) paintings of the same mountain). 36 views of people, their interactions, their conversations. It's not repeats of the exact same scene, but the form of the play--even just the title and explanation of it--make the audience aware of the perspective from which we are positioned to see the characters and play.
The play would be difficult to stage, since the production values would have to be high. The mix of cultures--traditional forms/art and modern times/values--are interesting.
I think the play would be better off as a novel; the characters are dense, overly-intellectual, and perhaps they would be more engaging with the benefit of narrative. It could be successful given a gifted and imaginative design team. Or as a novel. On the page, it's hard to imagine it not being pedantic and dry.
The play is about art, perception, and beauty: how do we assign value to something? Its age, its provenance, its subjective worth?
The play is 36 views of the same thing (like the 36(ish) paintings of the same mountain). 36 views of people, their interactions, their conversations. It's not repeats of the exact same scene, but the form of the play--even just the title and explanation of it--make the audience aware of the perspective from which we are positioned to see the characters and play.
The play would be difficult to stage, since the production values would have to be high. The mix of cultures--traditional forms/art and modern times/values--are interesting.
I think the play would be better off as a novel; the characters are dense, overly-intellectual, and perhaps they would be more engaging with the benefit of narrative. It could be successful given a gifted and imaginative design team. Or as a novel. On the page, it's hard to imagine it not being pedantic and dry.
February 9, 2012
While the playwright is very knowledgeable about the material (Historical Asian art and literature) I didn't find the play particularly dramatically engaging. The more "experimental" aspects of the play help connect the piece with Japanese No Theater and Pillow Book poetry but I wish they she did more with it, connecting the story more with the style.
February 1, 2011
This is a beautiful piece; Iizuka has certainly introduced a gem to the world of contemporary theatre. I would love to see it staged.
April 14, 2024
Twisty and compelling.
October 31, 2018
Elegant and engaging and highly theatrical and wrapped around a plot that really drew me in. It’s easy to imagine how this would light up on a stage.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews