Today we’d like to introduce you to Eszter Zador.
Hi Eszter, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Budapest, Hungary. Growing up, my parents introduced us to the arts and in high school, I started to be more interested in theater. So during summer break from school, I started interning at a theater company back home and started figuring out what it is I can be good at within theater. That is when I realized I wanted to be backstage. I love the complexity of working backstage and interacting with the actors, so I started moving toward stage management.
I came to the US in 2016 with an athletic scholarship, I played tennis for a Division 1 school (Portland State University in Oregon) and majored in Theater arts and had a minor in photography.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I had many obstacles. Staying in the US is not easy but I am lucky to have so many people supporting me with my journey of following my dream. But I also never spent more than a week or two away from my family before I got to the US so that was very challenging to be on my own far away from them.
The language barrier also held me back for a while, to express myself but I had an amazing acting teacher in college who helped me break down my barriers and encouraged me to express myself more.
Being in the arts field is not a particularly stable carrier. You are jumping from production to production, never knowing when the next one is going to happen. There is a lot of unknown in our field, which is scary and can hold people back but when I think about that, I also think about how happy and fulfilling my life is when I do theater.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My most recent work that I am very proud of was being the stage manager for the Oklahoma National Tour. It was challenging at first, earning everyone’s trust in me but eventually, it was a smoother transition than I thought because the company was extremely welcoming. Traveling from city to city, state to state is challenging and you have a lot of ups and down along the way, but it made me a better stage manager and human being. We were a team, a family. Playing in the Ahmanson Theater in LA and the Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco was a dream come true.
Image Credits
Image when I sit at the tech table – photo by Rishabh Badoni personal photo – photo by Bradley Crump
