Jessica L. Andrews
Performing is a part of her family history, but Jessica Andrews never felt quite comfortable in front of the camera. Andrews comes from an actor-director father and a dancer mother, but behind the scenes is where she shines. As executive director of the Arizona Theatre Company, Andrews uses her innate show-business savvy to help create one enjoyable experience after another for Tucson theater-goers.
Until two years ago, Andrews served as managing director, the top administrative role in the company. Still considered one of the top executive leaders, Andrews now spends most of her time in Tucson, centering her efforts on A Time to Act, a fund-raising campaign she helped to develop a year and a half ago.
“[The campaign] is really focused on the financial end of things: establishing a cash reserve and also the idea of purchasing our office building in Tucson, which is housed in a historic hotel,” she says.
Although Andrews continues to serve as the public face of Tucson theater, generating funding for it may be what she does best. The campaign, which has a $2.9 million goal, has already raised $2.1 million to go toward the theater’s expansion.
Andrews spent many years working her way to this influential position in the community. Finding herself a single mother at 20 years old, Andrews took a job at a Hartford, Conn. theater to support her children. She worked her way up the career ladder for 10 years, and in 1995, Andrews proudly became the managing director for the ATC.
Andrews is now an integral part of the Tucson community, both in the arts and in her involvement about town. She is a member of Women at the Top, a Tucson-based women’s business and networking club; she has guest-lectured for the U of A; and she has been honored with numerous awards including the esteemed 2008 Governor’s Arts Award.
Although her job entails significant attention to detail, it is obvious that Andrews’s true rewards stem from the people she works with. “I feel very connected to the actors, even in my position,” she says. “I like making sure the actors know they are being supported by the organization.”
As for the theater’s potential? “Someone [once] said to me, ‘Anything is possible in Arizona,’ and I still think that’s true,” Andrews says. “We’re at a moment where we can begin to dream, and that’s exciting for the theater.”
