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. 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.