In 2009 she travelled to New York for a summer residency with Anne Bogart at Columbia University and directed her first show for independent theatre company The Hayloft Project, Yuri Wells, co-devised with Benedict Hardie, who starred.
The Nest, adapted from Maxim Gorky's The Philistines, was described by The Age as "a subtle, complex manifestation of what ensemble theatre can achieve... Those who thrilled to Hayloft's Thyestes won't be disappointed.
[13] Sarks was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Direction, alongside other nominees Neil Armfield, Lee Lewis, and Rosemary Myers.
[16][17][18] Sarks has made several shows for Belvoir, including Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, written by Lally Katz, which toured to New York City; an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, co-written with Benedict Hardie; Nora, an adaptation of A Doll's House co-written with Kit Brookman; Elektra/Orestes, co-written with Jada Alberts, a retelling of the Electra myth; Seventeen by Matthew Whittet; Jasper Jones; and in 2018 she directed a new adaptation by Melissa Reeves of An Enemy of the People' which Huw Griffiths, writing in The Conversation, said "fizzes with contemporary relevance".
Michael Billington at The Guardian wrote that the production "genuinely makes us see an old play through new eyes", and described seeing the action from the point of view of Medea's children: "The brilliance of the idea is that it offers a wholly plausible picture of the way children react to domestic upheaval with a mixture of alarm and excitement.
Michael Billington in The Guardian gave it four stars, and compared it with Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills, writing: "The play wins one over by its sharp understanding of what it is like to be a confused, bewildered teenager.
Writing in The Australian, Chris Boyd argued the work was one of the greatest productions by the company: "By any measure, this is great theatre.
Alison Croggon wrote that, "It’s hard to think of a better director for this text than Sarks", describing the production as "riveting, real and unreal, like a nightmare".