Tuacahn is a unique theatre in that it has its own childcare center. During the day, there is childcare for the children of employees, actors, and the local community. At night, there is “ShowCare,” which is a childcare service for those attending Tuacahn Broadway musicals. This is especially important for patrons who have traveled from out of town with children who are too young to attend the performances.

Julie Chapman manages all childcare services at Tuacahn and has created a safe and loving environment for young children to laugh and learn and play. Cue the applause for Julie and get to know her below!

1. How long have you worked at Tuacahn? 

I was hired in the fall of 2005 to take care of the high school lunches. I started managing concessions shortly after that.

2. How did you become Tuacahn’s Childcare Managing Director?

In 2012, I was in a manager’s meeting, and it was announced that Tuacahn was going to start requiring children be over two years old to go into a show. (That was later changed to three years old.)

Tuacahn would be opening a childcare service, patterned after the childcare facility at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. I talked to Kevin Smith after the meeting and volunteered to head that up. We opened ShowCare in a portable classroom that we shared with the high school, for the 2012 season. When the building that includes the Gift Gallery, Cafe and our current childcare center was completed in August of 2017, we opened our year-round daytime childcare center. I left concessions then to run the childcare full-time.

3. What is your favorite part of working at Tuacahn?

Working in such a beautiful place and getting to see all of the shows is great, but I think my favorite part of working at Tuacahn has got to be the people here. All of the year-round and seasonal staff are amazing and so friendly. I’m particularly fond of the awesome childcare staff and the families that we work with. I love working with people who feel like family and for a place that is so family friendly. We have 21 grandchildren and one great-grandson, but they all live outside of Utah. I get my daily baby fix at Tuacahn.

4. What is your favorite show you’ve seen at Tuacahn?

That’s a tough one. I’ve loved so many, but I think my favorite has to be A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder that was done in Tuacahn’s indoor Hafen Theatre.

5. Something fun about you/something that people might not know.

When I was a girl in Orem, Utah, our family used to see shows at the Scera Amphitheater. I had a recurring dream that I lived in a home with an amphitheater in my backyard. Loving and caring for the children at Tuacahn is quite literally a dream come true.