Beloved by students and faculty alike, Northwestern’s Jodi Grant takes on many different tasks in the Theatre Department. Grant serves as the “Department Office and Building Manager.” When asked what tasks Jodi may take on in a typical day, she replied by saying that “every day is new and exciting!” Some tasks Jodi may do around the building on a typical day include creating a program for an upcoming production, calling London to order tickets for the productions the students who are traveling there will see when they go this summer, getting odds and ends ready for Northwestern’s Theatre Camp this summer or talking with students about their days or trying to calm their anxieties.
While some tasks are done exclusively during certain seasons, such as preparing for the Theatre Camp in the spring, other tasks are constant. “One thing I am always working on is setting up auditions and working out scholarships for prospective theatre students,” said Grant.
Currently, Grant’s biggest tasks include getting ready for the department’s productions for the current spring semester. The first production for the semester is a collaboration of NW’s Theatre Department and a new theatre company called “Unlabeled Theatre.” Unlabeled is a recently opened theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., whose mission is to provide people of various physical and mental abilities opportunities to act on stage as the main actors and actresses in their productions. NW’s Next students are working together with the Theatre Department’s students to open their show “Even Though I Know,” devised scenes with the Next Students’ stories in between. The next production for the semester is Rush, a dance show that is choreographed and performed by students across campus. Next, the department’s Drama Ministries Ensemble (DME) will be performing Scripture pieces entitled “Heros of the Faith” over spring break. Lastly, the department will be putting on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
Grant plays a big role in each of these shows. Some of her tasks include organizing posters to hang around campus, town and the greater Orange City to advertise, keeping track of and selling tickets until the shows open, and organizing the concessions and merchandise available for purchase at each show’s intermission. In addition to making sure everything is lined up logistically speaking for each production, Jodi makes sure to offer a smile and a welcoming attitude to anyone who enters the department. “I love being the welcoming face to people who come into the lobby to see a show,” Grant said. “I like to get to know them briefly and to let them know they’ll have a good time!”
When asked if she had a favorite production at NW she has gotten to be a part of, Grant replied with: “That’s like asking if someone has a favorite child! There honestly one that stands out to me because they are all so beautiful and rewarding in their own way”.
Another part of her job that Grant loves is organizing the Iowa High School Speech District Contest, which is held near the beginning of each spring semester. She loves how so many volunteers come together to put on such a big event. “Every year, I am blessed by how smoothly the competition runs because of all the incredible volunteers who give their time and energy,” said Grant.
One part of her job that Grant would describe as difficult is when people don’t respond to her emails in a timely manner.
Before working in NW’s Theatre Department, Grant worked as a high school teacher in Sheldon for twenty-six years, teaching English, theatre and speech. “I didn’t really have a plan to leave teaching, I just felt like it was time,” Grant said. “I didn’t have a plan for another job. My husband saw an opening for this job in the paper and told me he thought I would be good at it. Soon after, I applied for the job, and I got it!”
Grant is now in her third year of serving as the theatre’s “Department Office and Building Manager.” She appreciates how certain aspects of teaching translate to her current job, such as still being able to interact with students and her co-workers.
