Karen Zacarías’ award-winning plays include Destiny of Desire, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, the adaptations of Just Like Us and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent plus many more. She collaborated on the libretto for Sleepy Hollow and Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises for the Washington Ballet. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and is a core founder of the Latino Theatre Commons. Learn more at www.karenzacarias.com.
Why are you a playwright?
A play is live literature; a written medium that depends on people being alive and together in a room. And since I am a writer and an extrovert…playwriting affords me the opportunity to begin a world with words, and then actively build that world with artists and an audience.
What type of theatre most excites you?
I really am open to lots of types of theater: Very theatrical, abstract, kitchen sink, dramas, comedies, musicals…as long as there is something truthful and moving and surprising in the storytelling. I always appreciate a well-constructed play; I also love messy inspired, hard to define plays even more.
What starts a play moving in your imagination?
Sometimes it’s an image from a scene that I see in my mind. Sometimes it’s the feeling I want to create in the audience. I am always aware of the audience when I write; the point of all my stories is to create a response from the people that see it.
Do you have a favorite writing place?
I write a lot at my kitchen table, my computer surrounded by breakfast bowls and coffee mugs. I also write a lot a Tryst Coffee Shop…also with my computer surrounded by coffee mugs and plates.
What female playwrights have influenced your writing and how?
Locally, I am inspired by the works of Jennifer Nelson, Caleen Sinette Jennings, Ally Currin, Audrey Cefaly, Heather McDonald, D.Wiskeyman, Renee Calarco, Laura Zam and many others. Other powerful influences have been Maria Ines Fornes, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Ruhl, Lisa Loomer, Lisa Kron, Julia Cho,and others.
What’s missing from theatre today?
More faith in our audiences. And a real active diverse season that will attract diverse audiences.
Answer this: “If I weren’t a playwright, I would be … “
a diplomat, or salsa dancer or a beach bum.
Why are you a playwright?
A play is live literature; a written medium that depends on people being alive and together in a room. And since I am a writer and an extrovert…playwriting affords me the opportunity to begin a world with words, and then actively build that world with artists and an audience.
What type of theatre most excites you?
I really am open to lots of types of theater: Very theatrical, abstract, kitchen sink, dramas, comedies, musicals…as long as there is something truthful and moving and surprising in the storytelling. I always appreciate a well-constructed play; I also love messy inspired, hard to define plays even more.
What starts a play moving in your imagination?
Sometimes it’s an image from a scene that I see in my mind. Sometimes it’s the feeling I want to create in the audience. I am always aware of the audience when I write; the point of all my stories is to create a response from the people that see it.
Do you have a favorite writing place?
I write a lot at my kitchen table, my computer surrounded by breakfast bowls and coffee mugs. I also write a lot a Tryst Coffee Shop…also with my computer surrounded by coffee mugs and plates.
What female playwrights have influenced your writing and how?
Locally, I am inspired by the works of Jennifer Nelson, Caleen Sinette Jennings, Ally Currin, Audrey Cefaly, Heather McDonald, D.Wiskeyman, Renee Calarco, Laura Zam and many others. Other powerful influences have been Maria Ines Fornes, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Ruhl, Lisa Loomer, Lisa Kron, Julia Cho,and others.
What’s missing from theatre today?
More faith in our audiences. And a real active diverse season that will attract diverse audiences.
Answer this: “If I weren’t a playwright, I would be … “
a diplomat, or salsa dancer or a beach bum.
