RISING STAR

PHOTO BY MICHAEL GALVIN When Jess Kody signed a contract in June to become the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket's production manager - her first job out of college - she didn't know then that she was becoming an integral member of the theater at one of the most pivotal times in its history.

Originally introduced to Nantucket through TWN's summer company in 2007, Kody liked the island and the theater so much that she returned for the summer of 2008, which is when the TWN offered her a permanent position.

"The Theatre Workshop offered me a job that someone my age in the theater shouldn't turn down," Kody said. "This theater has a great location, the job has great contacts, and you can actually do theater here.

Only a few months after Kody began working with the theater full-time, the theater lost its winter home at the United Methodist Church, which decided to use all of its spaces for church services, and also received news that it would have to relocate its office from Centre Street.

Though the TWN will be returning to the United Methodist Church for the 2009 summer season, the crunch for space has made more pressing the need for the theater to possess its own permanent location.

As the Theatre Workshop prepares to relocate, Kody has initiated a massive archival project with board member Cheryl Fudge. The women are dusting off racks of costumes - protecting what is intact and removing the mothaddled and moldy.

"Jess is a very smart person who is wise beyond her years," said Fudge, who is donating some of her downtown retail space to house the TWN offices until May. "And as a theater person, she understands that she has to wear many hats. She goes beyond her job description, because we need her to. We're the only theater on the island, and the community needs us, which means everyone has to do a little bit more, and she embodies that. We're lucky we have her."

Currently, the 22 year old is working to maintain the traditions and the well-being of the 53-year-old theater's daily operations. Working under TWN Board President Frank Morral, Kody acquires staffing for shows, secures props, runs lights and sound, oversees the box office, organizes publicity, conducts community outreach with local students and mentors interns and school-to-career students.

Though Kody is the youngest staff member the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket has ever hired, she's had a remarkable amount of experience, even compared to some managers her senior. While studying theater management at the University of Rhode Island, Kody toured upstate New York with "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Sleeping Beauty." At age 20, she also managed the Gloversville Summer Stock theatre for a season.

The URI theater program even nominated Kody for a regional stage manager competition, which could yield $10,000 and a week of on-site study at a prestigious theater.

"She's really young to have done as much as she's done," Morral said. "She's energetic, she's had good training, and I find her very easy to work with. It's a pleasure working with Jessica."

How does Kody feel about receiving so much responsibility at such a pivotal time?

"It's kind of scary," Kody says with a tone that waffles between matterof factness and playfulness. "What does 'pivotal' mean? It means you can go one of two ways. The worst-case scenario would be that the theater shuts down for a while and doesn't do any theater. The other way is that we can hold on by our fingernails like everyone else is doing in this economy and work for the best - the best being our own space." I