Karen Zacarías has been hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the most produced playwrights in the U.S. Her comedy Native Gardens continues to be one of the most produced plays in the nation. Notable productions for 2025/26 include the co-production of her telenovela comedy Destiny of the Desire at the Denver Center Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum in LA, her explosive adaptation the western Shane at Dallas Theater Center and The Oregon Shakespeare Theater, her adaptation of The Age of Innocence at Arena Stage, her time-travel comedy Legacy of Light at McCarter Theater, and The Book Club Play revival at Cincinnati Playhouse and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Her other plays include The Copper Children, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and adaptations of Just Like Us, Into the Beautiful North, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, and a bilingual Romeo y Juliet. She has 10 TYA musicals with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma. In film, Karen has worked with director Pedro Almodóvar on his first bilingual movie script, set in Mexico and the U.S. She has also been commissioned to write the film adaptation of the bestselling comedy “You Had Me at Hola” and the biopic “Ascención”. She is core founder of the Latino Theatre Commons—a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinos, and the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights’ Theater. Karen was voted a 2019 Washingtonian of the Year and awarded the 2019 Sine Fellowship at the American University School of Public Policy, 2019 Lee Reynolds Award for “social, cultural, or political change with theater” and the 2019 Medallion by the Children’s Theater Foundation. She is a 2021 recipient of the United Artists Fellowship. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Rett, their three children, and two dogs. She is represented by the Gersh Agency and published by Concord Theatricals Publishing, and has a collection of plays with Oberon Books. More at karenzacarias.com.
Karen Zacarías has been hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the most produced playwrights in the U.S. Her comedy Native Gardens continues to be one of the most produced plays in the nation. Notable productions for 2025/26 include the co-production of her telenovela comedy Destiny of the Desire at the Denver Center Theatre and the Mark Taper Forum in LA, her explosive adaptation the western Shane at Dallas Theater Center and The Oregon Shakespeare Theater, her adaptation of The Age of Innocence at Arena Stage, her time-travel comedy Legacy of Light at McCarter Theater, and The Book Club Play revival at Cincinnati Playhouse and the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Her other plays include The Copper Children, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and adaptations of Just Like Us, Into the Beautiful North, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, and a bilingual Romeo y Juliet. She has 10 TYA musicals with composer Deborah Wicks La Puma. In film, Karen has worked with director Pedro Almodóvar on his first bilingual movie script, set in Mexico and the U.S. She has also been commissioned to write the film adaptation of the bestselling comedy “You Had Me at Hola” and the biopic “Ascención”. She is core founder of the Latino Theatre Commons—a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinos, and the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights’ Theater. Karen was voted a 2019 Washingtonian of the Year and awarded the 2019 Sine Fellowship at the American University School of Public Policy, 2019 Lee Reynolds Award for “social, cultural, or political change with theater” and the 2019 Medallion by the Children’s Theater Foundation. She is a 2021 recipient of the United Artists Fellowship. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband Rett, their three children, and two dogs. She is represented by the Gersh Agency and published by Concord Theatricals Publishing, and has a collection of plays with Oberon Books. More at karenzacarias.com.