Izumi Ashizawa has been an artistic director of Izumi Ashizawa Performance since 2002. Her original plays have been performed in various countries. The second part of her Neo-Noh trilogy, The Blue Rocks , was presented at the International Arts and Ideas Edge Festival in New Haven, CT (2003), New York International Fringe Festival, NY(2004), Man In Fest Festival in Romania(2005), Fajr Theatre Festival in Tehran, Iran(2006), Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania(2006 and 2009), Arion Tokyo Summer Music Festival, Tokyo, Japan(2006), and Cay Fest in the Grand Cayman, the Cayman Isands (2009) . The intensive documentary of the Tokyo production has been broadcasted through the National Public TV of Japan(NHK). The first part of trilogy, Medusa, has been performed in 2002, and has won the Puffin Foundation Award and Gritchen Johnson Award.  Ashizawa was awarded a prestigious UNESCO-Aschberg award and has completed the art-residency program at Institut International de la Marionnette in France in 2007. During her residency, she wrote a play, “Zahak,” which is based on the Persian myth. Immediately after her residency in France, Ashizawa was commissioned to direct this play in Iran. She created the “Zahak” performance with ten Iranian actors, intertwining her exquisite movement techniques fused with marionette and mask manipulations and original Persian live music. It was performed in 2007 and received enthusiastic reviews. Zahak  won a special award for  aesthetic excellence. Ashizawa's other Iranian production, "Minotaur" was also awarded the Best Performance Award and Tehran Municipality Arts and Culture Organization Award. Most recently, she has received an Australian Government Grant for the Arts and Culture Arts Queensland to create an original puppet performance piece in December, 2008.