Biography of Karen Zacarias

MARIELA IN THE DESERT had its World Premiere in January 2005 at The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The play is the winner of the 2004 AT&T First Stages Award from TCG, the winner of the 2004 National Latino Playwrights Competition, a finalist for the 2004 Susan Smith Blackburn prize, and nominated for the 2005 Kesselring Prize. MARIELA IN THE DESERT was developed at South Coast Rep, Seattle Rep. Theatre and the Public Theatre in New York) Her play, THE SINS OF SOR JUANA is the winner of the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play at the 2000 Helen Hayes Awards and has been produced throughout the country, most recently at Teatro Vista in Chicago and Performance Network in Ann Arbor. Karen is currently translating Sor Juana into Los Pecados de Sor Juana for its Spanish World Premiere at Gala Hispanic Theatre in Washington, DC. Her new comedy THE BOOK CLUB PLAY is being developed at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis in December. Karens musical plays for young people with composer Debbie Wicks La Puma are currently enjoying multiple productions throughout the country. The plays include EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY (premiering Nov 2005 at The Alliance Theater in Atlanta, selected for the 2004 New Vision/New Voices ), and three works commissioned and premiered by Imagination Stage: a flamenco version of FERDINAND: THE BULL (produced at The Goodman, the Alliance, and soon, the Coterie, among others) the mariachi-inspired THE MAGICAL PIÒATA (touring in South Florida), and salsa/hip-hop CINDERELLA EATS RICE AND BEANS:A SALSA MUSICAL (sold out performances at Childrens Theatre Lab at Depaul University in Chicago). Karens work has been performed at Arena Stage, The Alliance Theater, The Kennedy Center, Canadian Fringe Festival, Boston Playwrights Theater, Borderlands Theater, Magik Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Theatre of the First Amendment, The Public Theater, Seattle Repertory Theater, St. Louis Rep, Chicago Play Labs, Birmingham Childrens Theatre, Imagination Stage, Trinidad Theater Workshop, Performance Network, and the Scandinavian Theater Festival. Karen earned her BA from Stanford University and a Masters in Playwriting from Boston University studying with Nobel Laureates Derek Walcott and Elie Wiesel. THE SINS OF SOR JUANA and THE MAGICAL PIÒATA are published by Dramatic Publishing. Karen lives in Washington D.C. with her husband Rett, her three-year old son Nico, and one-year-old baby Kati. Karen Zacarías is the founder and artistic director of Young Playwrights Theater, an award-winning non-profit dedicated to enhancing literacy, arts empowerment and conflict resolution through playwriting in Washington, DC area schools.
biography courtesy of The Playwrights' Centre >>>