Karen Zacarías is a

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

playwright who was born in Mexico in 1969. She is known for her play ''Mariela in the Desert''. It was the winner of the National Latino Playwriting Award and a finalist for other prizes. ''Mariela in the Desert'' was debuted at the

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the lan ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Zacarías is the founder of the

Young Playwrights' Theater Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT) is a not-for-profit theater arts-based education organization in Northwest Washington, D.C. It provides interactive in-school and after-school programs presenting and discussing student-written work to promote com ...

located in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life

Zacarías received her Bachelors in Arts from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1991 and then went on to pursue her Masters in Creative Writing at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in 1995. Zacarías comes from an artistic family from Mexico. Her grandfather,

Miguel Zacarías Miguel Zacarías Nogaim (19 March 1905 – 20 April 2006) was a Mexican film director, producer, and writer. Career Zacarías began directing for film in 1933. Even from his early career he developed a reputation for recognizing new acting ...

, was a movie director and writer during the

Golden Age of Mexican cinema The Golden Age of Mexican cinema ( es, Época de Oro del Cine Mexicano) is a period in the history of the Cinema of Mexico between 1930 and 1969 when the Mexican film industry reached high levels of production, quality and economic success of its ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. Zacarías initially resisted pursuing an artistic career. She said:

Career

She was the first playwright-in-residence at the

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

in Washington, DC. She has written several plays like ''The Book Club Play'', ''Legacy of Light'', ''Mariela in the Desert'', ''The Sins of

Sor Juana Sor may refer to: * Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer * Sor, Ariège, a French commune * SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer * Sor, Azerbaijan, a village * Sor, Senegal, an offshore island * Sor River, a river in the ...

'', ''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,

Round House Theatre Round House Theatre is a nonprofit theater company based in Bethesda, Maryland. History Round House began life in 1970 as “Street ’70”, a program of the Montgomery County Department of Recreation that provided educational outreach in the ...

Denver Center for the Performing Arts The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...

Alliance Theatre The Alliance Theatre is a theater company in Atlanta, Georgia, based at the Alliance Theatre, part of the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and is the winner of the 2007 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The company, originally the Atlanta Municipal T ...

, Imagination Stage (

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...

, GALA Hispanic Theatre,

Berkshire Theatre Festival The Berkshire Theatre Festival is one of the oldest professional performing arts venues in the Berkshires, celebrating its 80th anniversary season in 2008. History The main building of the Berkshire Theatre Festival was originally the Stockbridge ...

South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory (SCR) is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Direc ...

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

Cleveland Play House Cleveland Play House (CPH) is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1915 and built its own noted theater complex in 1927. Currently the company performs at the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square wher ...

San Jose Repertory Theatre The San Jose Repertory Theatre (a.k.a. San Jose Rep) was the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber. In 2008, after the demise of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose, the ...

, GEVA Theater, Horizon Theater, People's Light and Theatre,

Walnut Street Theater The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnut ...

, Arden Theater, Milagro Theater, Teatro Vista, and Aurora Theater. Zacarías was invited by the

White House Historical Association The White House Historical Association, founded in 1961 through efforts of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, is a private, non-profit organization that works to preserve the history of the White House and make that history more accessible to the pub ...

and the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

to write a family play about the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. 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 Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

. 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 established and founded the

in 1995. She began by 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. She is also the founder of the Latino Theatre Commons. She has been inspired by works from Maria Ines Fornes,

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the rec ...

Lisa Loomer Lisa Loomer (born 1950) is an American playwright and screenwriter who has also worked as an actress and stand-up comic. She is best known for her play ''The Waiting Room'' (1994), in which three women from different time periods meet in a moder ...

Lisa Kron Elizabeth S. "Lisa" Kron (born May 20, 1961) is an American actress and playwright. She is best known for writing the lyrics and book to the musical ''Fun Home'' for which she won both the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Tony Award for ...

and

Julia Cho Julia Cho (born July 5, 1975) is an American playwright and television writer. In March 2020 she was awarded the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. Select full length plays ''99 Histories'' (2002) ''99 Histories'' is a drama portraying the ...

. 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."

Personal life

She has three children: Maia, Nico, and Kati.

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 Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

s. This play has been widely produced, thus Zacarías translated it for a Spanish-language production in April at D.C.'s GALA Hispanic Theatre. Young Playwrights' Theater won the 2010 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the White House on cultural issues. It worked directly with the Administration and the three primary cultural agencies: the National Endowment for the Art ...

. YPT received the Washington Post 2014 Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. Her other awards include: * New Voices Award * 2010 Steinberg Citation-Best New Play * Paul Aneillo Award * Francesca Primus Prize for an Emerging Woman Theater Artist * National Latino Play Award * Finalist, Susan Blackburn * 2000 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play (Sins of Sor Juana) * 2018 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Original Play or Musical Adaptation (Ella Enchanted)

Works

* ''The Sins of Sor Juana'' (1999) * ''Mariela in the Desert'' (2005) * ''How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents'' (2008) *''The Book Club Play'' (2009) * ''Legacy of Light'' (2009) * ''Just Like Us'' (2013) ** Adapted from Helen Thorpe's 2009 book of the same name, it premiered in 2013 at The Stage Theatre in Denver, Colorado. * ''Our War'' (2014) ** Zacarías contributed one of 25 vignettes. * ''Destiny of Desire: A Brechtian Telenovela'' (2015) ** Premiered in 2015 at

directed by

Jose Luis Valenzuela José Luis Valenzuela is a theater and film director and emeritus distinguished professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Valenzuela has directed Play (theatre), theater plays, which were appreciated by critics. His theater pl ...

and under his directorship went on to the

and

. * ''Into the Beautiful North'' (2016) ** Inspired by

Luis Alberto Urrea Luis Alberto Urrea (born August 20, 1955 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Life Luis Urrea is the son of Alberto Urrea Murray, of Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico and Phyllis Dashiell, born in Staten Island, New Yor ...

's 2009

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

of the same name, it premiered in 2016 at

Miracle Theatre Miracle Theatre, sometimes known by the Spanish translation of its name Teatro Milagro, is the only Hispanic theater production company in the Pacific Northwest. Its home is in Portland, Oregon, United States, though it often tours regionally ...

in Portland, Oregon and has toured around the U.S. * ''Native Gardens'' (2019) * ''The Copper Children'' (2020) ** Premiered in 2020 at the

TYA musicals

Zacarías' musicals with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma include: * ''OLIVÉRio: A Brazilian Twist (Kennedy Center)'' * ''Ella Enchanted (First Stage Milwaukee/Adventure Theatre MTC)'' * ''Jane of the Jungle (South Coast Repertory)'' * ''Frida Libre (La Jolla Playhouse)'' * ''Looking for Roberto Clemente (Imagination Stage)'' * ''Chasing George Washington: A White House Adventure (Kennedy Center)'' * ''Einstein is a Dummy (Alliance Theatre)'' * ''Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans (Imagination Stage)'' * ''Ferdinand the Bull (Imagination Stage)'' * ''The Magical Piñata (Imagination Stage)''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zacarias, Karen 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1969 births Stanford University alumni Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni American writers of Mexican descent Writers from Washington, D.C. Living people 20th-century American women writers Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights Mexican emigrants to the United States 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American women writers American women dramatists and playwrights