We recently connected with Azra King-Abadi and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Azra, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Both of my parents recognized my interest in the arts, and they supported and encouraged me in their own way. My mother never had much money, but she always did arts and crafts projects with my sister and I. She enrolled me in an art school for my primary and secondary education. She would take us to museums, and community performances and festivals and always allowed us to go on school trips to plays and concerts.
My father saw that I enjoyed art early on, and he enrolled me in painting classes at the local community center after school. He always encouraged me to paint more. And, when I was graduating from high school, he told me he would support me in any field I chose to go to University for, even though it was counter to his cultural norms to pursue the arts as a profession.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve worked on plays since high school, but back then it was costume design that I was most interested in. When I graduated I decided I did not want to study theatre, I wanted to take a break from it and so enrolled in a creative arts program. Even though I attended a school with no theatre program or club, somehow I became part of a group of friends that were all interested in theatre and we put on a play. In conjunction with that experience I realized that I worked better as a team, rather than a solo artist, and that I worked better responding to something such as a script. Apparently my personality was better suited to design than fine art, although I still enjoy painting and drawing in my free time. So I decided to enroll in a theatre design program for University. While there my professors assigned my to light design as my first production assignment, and that’s when I realized I wanted to paint shows using light. when I got to graduate school I focused more on lighting and eventually that became my profession. I think I bring an interesting perspective to the creative team of a production. I love to dig in to a characters emotional and/or psychological journey and see how I could represent that onstage.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

It’s all about word of mouth. And, Work begets Work. When I first graduated University, I took an internship at an opera company. As I started meeting people at that job, my name got around the local opera/ classical music sphere and I started getting asked to design some concerts.
However, I really missed designing theatre. I went to a play opening with a friend as her plus one, and she introduced me to the Artistic director of an exciting theatre company, they asked me to light one of their shows and it went well. The venue producers liked my worked so they hired me for their next show and so on, and so forth.
People liked the work I produced and enjoyed working with me and then others saw the work I did and liked it so I was contacted my new producers. Basically produce good work and don’t be an asshole while doing it and occasionally you need to socialize even if it’s not your thing.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It never feels like your done, you just stop working when the show opens. Due to that I think the actual creation process is the most rewarding. Getting to birth your ideas in to the world and share them with an audience of people that you pray get something out of it. And of course collaborating with nice and interesting people or else the process will be miserable.

Contact Info:

• Website: azrakingabadi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azrakingabadi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=48306074
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azra-king-abadi-21181a21/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OzraKA
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf-JTvcFmO7n1HInIWQRroA

Image Credits
Craig Schwartz Photography/ cooperseye/ Blueline/ Jamie Pham