Karen Zacarias

Early life

Zacarías received her Bachelors in Arts from Stanford University in 1991 and then went on to pursue her Masters in Creative Writing at Boston University in 1995. Zacarías comes from an artistic family from Mexico. Her grandfather, Miguel Zacarías, was a movie director and writer during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 30's and 40's. Even though Karen Zacarías came from an artistic family she initially resisted pursuing an artistic career.

To quote Zacarias she said:

"Ours was a wonderful, lively, enchanting artistic house, but it also demystified "art" for me. I saw firsthand how "artistic expression" could be misused as a justification for self-indulgent, self-important and destructive behavior, and consequently I resisted being an artist for many years. It wasn't until I was out of college, had worked a couple of years at a Latin American policy nonprofit and knew I could support myself without betraying others that I finally let myself really become a writer."

Career

Karen Zacarías is a prominent Latina playwright currently residing in Washington D.C. She was the first playwright-in- resident at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.

She has written several award winning plays like: The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, The Sun Also Rises and adaptations of plays like How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Just Like Us and others. Theaters that have showcased her plays include: the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre, Round House Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Alliance Theatre, Imagination Stage (Bethesda, Maryland), GALA Hispanic Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, San Jose Repertory Theatre.

Zacarías was invited by the White House Historical Association and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to write a family play about the White House. She included young people in the process and her script was converted into a book published by Scholastic. It included a foreword by First Lady Michelle Obama. The book was called Chasing George Washington and the musical premiered at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and proceeded to go on a National Tour.

Zacarías is also the founder of the Latino Theatre Commons.

Young Playwright's Theater

Zacarías' established and founded the Young Playwright's Theater in 1995. It is an award-winning theater company that serves urban children in the Washington D.C. area schools. She was first volunteering and teaching playwriting classes to children in DC classrooms, and they grew so popular that she turned it into a 501c3 nonprofit organization by 1997.

Writing for young people is very important for Zacarías. It is a rewarding experience for Zacarías to write for young people. She says:

"I love writing for young people. You can't find a more honest and challenging audience on the planet. My strongest playwriting lessons have come in trying to create stories that will resonate with young people—it is a rewarding, hilarious and heartbreaking endeavor to create plays in which kids really see themselves on stage."

It has received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Awards

The Sins of Sor Juana was the winner of the Charles MacArthur Award for outstanding new play at D.C.'s 2000 Helen Hayes Awards. This play has been widely produced, thus Zacarías translated it for a Spanish-language production in April at D.C.'s GALA Hispanic Theatre.

Her other awards include:

Inspiration

She has been inspired by works from Maria Ines Fornes, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Ruhl, Lisa Loomer, Lisa Kron and Julia Cho.