Karen June Sanchez

KJ Sanchez (born Karen June Sanchez) is an American theatre actor, director, and playwright. She is currently an associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin, where she serves as head of the MFA Directing program.Sanchez is the founder/CEO of American Records As a playwright, she has been produced at Actors Theater of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Two River Theater, Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE, off-Broadway at Urban Stages, and Round House Theater, among others. She has directed plays by Dan Dietz, Kyle Schmidt, Heather Raffo, Jose Rivera, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Kristoffer Diaz.

As an actress, she has been on stages at The Humana Festival of New Plays, The Goodman Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Long Wharf Theater, New York Theatre Workshop and Brooklyn Academy of Music. She is also the voice of many characters in the Nickelodeon cartoons Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!.

As the producer, director and co-author (with Emily Ackerman) of ReEntry, a play based on interviews with Marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, KJ produced its international tour and contracted with the United States Department of Defense, taking the play to service members at over thirty military bases and hospitals throughout the US and internationally. KJ is a former member of Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, an Associate Artist with The Civilians, a Fox Fellow, Douglas Wollop Fellow, Albert Award Nominee, an NEA CDP recipient and a TCG Doris Duke/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Generations Future Leaders Recipient.