Karen Zacarías’ award-winning plays include Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, the adaptation of Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and Legacy of Light. Her TYA musicals with composer Debbie Wicks la Puma include Einstein is a Dummy, Looking for Roberto Clemente, Jane of the Jungle, Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans, Ferdinand the Bull, and Frida Libre. Ms. Zacarías is currently working on the adaptation of Helen Thorpe’s nonfiction book on immigration, Just Like Us, for the Denver Theater Center and an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence at Arena Stage. She is currently writing the libretto of The Sun Also Rises for the Washington Ballet, a play for the American Revolution series for Oregon Shakespeare Theater, a new comedy for Cincinnati Playhouse, and a Brazilian themed musical for young people for the Kennedy Center. Her plays have been produced at The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, The Goodman, Round House Theater, The Denver Center, Alliance Theater, Imagination Stage, GALA, Berkshire Theater Festival, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, San Jose Rep, and more. Her awards include 2010 Steinberg Citation-Best New Play, National Francesca Primus Prize, New Voices Award, National Latino Play Award, Finalist Susan Blackburn, Helen Hayes for Outstanding New Play. She grew up in Atlanta, but now calls D.C. home where she is playwright-in-residence at Arena Stage and teaches at Georgetown University. She is the founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater, an award-winning theatre company that teaches playwriting in local public schools in Washington, D.C.
