In 1979 she was part of the Early Childhood Drama Project[7] the professional arm at La Boite Theatre Company where she performed in numerous productions including The Hills Family Show.
Theatre Company inaugural ensemble performing Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera under the baton of Georg Tintner.
In 1981 she played Lavinia Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra for QTC a role she reprised for the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) directed by Michael Blakemore.
During this time under the direction of Bud Tingwell, McKenzie played Lynn in a 2-hour 500th special episode of Cop Shop for which she won a 1983 Penguin Award[9] for Best Single Performance by an Actress in a Serial.
A review of WAY in Stage Whispers said: "Sally McKenzie grips the audience's attention for a complex seventy-five minutes with an astonishing sustained theatre performance.
[13] In 2019 McKenzie was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts Fellowship Medal for her research and subsequent paper 'Developing Australian Playwrights and their Plays'.