Ava Lalezarzadeh Spills the Backstage Secrets From ENGLISH

We all know how much hard work goes into the performances that audiences see eight times a week on Broadway. When they're not giving it their all onstage, most performers are backstage doing what it takes to stay happy, healthy, and ready to go between scenes. In Words From The Wings, BroadwayWorld is taking fans behind the curtain to shine a spotlight on the everyday routines that keep Broadway stars moving. 

In this edition, we catch up with Ava Lalezarzadeh who plays Goli in English on Broadway. Below, she takes us backstage at the Todd Haimes Theatre (with photos by Jennifer Broski) to share some of her favorite backstage routines, moments, must-haves and more.

What’s the first thing you do when you arrive to the theatre?

Hi Broadway World, thank you for having me. My dressing room is up 5 flights of stairs, so once I’ve completed my built in cardio of hell, I go to the stage for a vocal warm. I like to touch the stage before every show…partial superstition, partial respect I feel like the stage is our home so I want to greet her before we invite the audience in. Our show “English” is a play that takes place in an English classroom in Iran, so our scenes our doused with language games—one of them, the terror inducing “ball game”, where our characters come up with words on the fly in the theme of that round like “things that are green” or “things you find in a kitchen.” Ten minutes to half hour we do every ball game like it’s fight call. It’s become our ritual. Then it’s half hour and I go get ready!

What’s the last thing you do before you go on stage?

When we’re lined up backstage, I take some steady breaths and I don’t know, I have like a Pavlovian response, every time I hear the opening music this surge of calm and excitement washes over my body. 

What’s your must-have backstage snack?

This is boring and particular but tepid water. Does this qualify as diva behavior? 

Pre-show ritual that others may think is weird?

I listen exclusively to the Sound Loaded Album by Ricky Martin when I’m getting ready. And I run my first scene out loud. 

What are five must-haves in your dressing room?

Roundabout treats us so well and our wardrobe supervisor, Fallon, is a mother hen to us all. She’s made all our dressing rooms feel like home. It’s so cozy with robes, slippers, real cutlery and mugs, a cute little sofa, A BED. It’s these little pleasures and luxuries that make a space that you’re spending so much of your time in, feel homey. 

What’s your favorite moment from the show to watch from the wings?

So we technically don’t have “wings”. Our backstage is actually downstairs in the greenroom. So I can’t see the show but I hear it! I really love hearing this one scene between Marjan and Omid, where they are sitting, watching a movie, while exchanging words that begin with the letter “W” like Water. It’s a rather intimate scene and while I can’t see them, I can hear the quiet tension between their stolen glances. 

What has been your favorite backstage moment in your time with this show so far?

Oh that is so difficult to answer, there have been many highlights and gems. Perhaps one of my favorite backstage moments each night is the huddle the cast and I have before we go on stage. We love this play…we hold it and it holds us. And we hold each other. It’s been really special that we’ve been with the play since Off-Broadway and that we now get to bring it back to audiences in all of our Broadway debuts. To debut with this play that we all cherish so much is the real treasure. 

About Ava Lalezarzadeh