36 Views Play Review

In a series of 36 interlocking scenes, Naomi Iizuka's play explores the relationship between the fact and fallacy. 36 Views is prefaced with a quotation from Matthew Luckiesh'sVisual Illusions: "Only a part of what is perceived comes through the senses from the object; the remainder always comes from within." Set in the Asian art world, the story focuses on the discovery of a one-of-a-kind Japanese pillow book, a diary of a court lady that turns the academic field of Asian antiquity upside down. As scholars, art dealers and reporters clamor over the finding, we realize that everything is not as it seems.
Darius Wheeler, played by Sammitian Doner, opens the play with his wild tales of his travel in Southeast Asia. This avid Oriental art collector’s exaggerated gestures and tone accentuate his machismo and presumptuous attitude toward his love interest, Setsujo Hearn, played by Micki Mung, an Asian art scholar. In the background, there are the aspiring con-artists Claire Tsung, who cr...