Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a freelance theater director focusing on the development of diverse new plays for the stage and the ear. She is an author, educator, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Her first book, There Must Be Happy Endings: On a Theater of Optimism and Honesty is available from The 3rd Thing press.
Megan's audio-play collaboration with writer Madhuri Shekar, Evil Eye (Audible Theatre) was the winner of the 2020 Audie Award for Original Work and the 2020 Gracie Award for Audio Drama. Favorite recent stage directing projects include the world premieres of Madhuri Shekar's House of Joy at Cal Shakes, Nathan Alan Davis' Nat Turner in Jerusalem at New York Theatre Workshop, and Eleanor Burgess' Chill at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.
Megan has taught classes and workshops at Brown University, Yale University, and Harvard University, and is currently a part-time Lecturer at Northeastern University. She is an Associate at ALJP Consulting, a POC-led executive search firm addressing the contemporary challenges of the non-profit arts and culture sector, and a co-owner of HumanStudio, LLC, a boutique consultancy dedicated to the development and practice of creative leadership, currently focusing on programs at the intersection of unconscious group dynamics, racial identity, and leadership. She was a participant in the first ever TCG Diversity and Inclusion Institute, and is the creator/admin of a resource for identifying diverse theater designers and technicians.
Megan is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. She has previously served as the Associate Artistic Director of Underground Railway Theater (Cambridge, MA), the Providence Black Repertory Company (RI), and The 52nd Street Project (NYC), and as Director-in-Residence at Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) in Lowell, MA. She is a recipient of the Princess Grace Theater Award and the TCG Future Leaders fellowship, an alumna of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a proud member of SDC.
Megan was born and raised in Seattle, and now lives in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston with her wife Candice. She enjoys keeping orchids alive, identifying all the birds in her backyard, and searching for outstanding gluten-free baked goods.