Conversation between Madhuri Shekar & Karen Zacarias

SPEAKERS

Karen Zacarías is one of the most produced playwrights in the nation. She is one of the inaugural Resident Playwrights at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, and is a core founder of the LATINX THEATRE COMMONS. She is the founder of Young Playwrights’ Theater, an award-winning theater company that teaches playwriting in local public schools in Washington, DC. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children.

Madhuri Shekar is an Indian Playwright and Screenwriter from California. She moved to Singapore when she was 6 and then to Chennai, India when she was 9, where she remained until adulthood. She has an MFA in Dramatic Writing from USC and a dual Master’s degree in Global Media and Communications from the London School of Economics and USC. For as long as she can remember, Shekar has loved to write. Her first dive into writing was Harry Potter fanfiction from which she learned more about how to structure a story and world-build. Shekar has been a working playwright since 2013 and her award-winning plays include Love and Warcraft, her breakthrough play, House of Joy, Queen, and A Nice Indian Boy. Shekar's writing extends to the screen and Audible. Her first play on Audible, Evil Eye, was commissioned through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund. She was a staff writer for the HBO show The Nevers in 2021 and co-created the series Titus and Dronicus.