Jamie Wilcox - Artistic Director

Egyptian YouTheatre Director Jamie Wilcox believes theatre can change the world and her master plan to make it happen is introducing young people to theatre as performers, behind-the-scenes magicians, and audience members!

Jamie graduated from the University of Utah’s distinguished Actor Training Program in 2004 and holds an MA in Applied Theatre (Theatre in the Community and Theatre in Education) from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. During her time at the U of U she became an instructor for the Youth Theatre at the U where she discovered that introducing kids to theatre and watching them shine on stage was as thrilling as being on stage herself! After eight years at the Youth Theatre at the U, she moved to London to pursue her Masters where she facilitated drama workshops with varying groups, using drama participation to: help primary school children with speech, language, and communication needs breakthrough these barriers through storytelling and dramatic play (with the London Bubble’s Speech Bubbles initiative); aid secondary school children with learning disabilities and mental health needs find a sense of self and community through participating in creative arts projects and theatre games (with GroOops); encourage support, connection, and discovery of self-worth in a group setting for women in recovery from drug and alcohol misuse, using theatre and drama techniques to help them create healthy support systems, gain confidence and a sense of self, and replace hazardous risk-taking behaviors with fulfilling and rewarding risk-taking through performance (with Outside Edge Theatre Company). Upon completing her MA in 2011, she returned to the states and soon became Director of Egyptian YouTheatre. While furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic, she started her own creative arts company, Play is the Thing, which still keeps her busy producing new work, offering outdoor and in-studio classes in SLC & PC, and providing creative consultancy to schools and businesses.

Beyond theatre, Jamie loves to read, sew, bake, eat dark chocolate, Skype with people who have British accents, play with Salinger (a dog who thinks he’s a human), and most especially spend time with her most favorite person on the planet, her daughter Aidan.

Amy Livingston - Education Director

Amy Livingston is the Education Director for Egyptian Theatre and has worked with the program since 2016. She is a multi-faceted artist with professional experience as an actor, musical theatre performer, opera singer, theatre educator, voice coach, and photographer. She spent the first part of her career in the classical music world and earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Utah before deciding to pursue theatre instead, going on to earn her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Central Florida. 

Amy started teaching somewhat by accident in 2013, when she was asked by a friend to help spearhead a summer theatre program for her high school in Boise, Idaho. She fell in love with theatre education almost immediately, and never looked back! She believes wholeheartedly that theatre is and always should be a safe haven in which kids can freely explore themselves, their ideas, and their creativity. Her students consistently amaze and inspire her, and she considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to work with them every day. Amy worked for several years as an instructor for Egyptian YouTheatre as well as the Garden Theatre in Orlando, Florida before being offered the position of YouTheatre Education Director in 2022. She specializes in teaching acting technique, stage and musical theatre voice, and Shakespeare, and she also enjoys directing and stage managing YouTheatre shows. 

Outside of her work as an educator, Amy has maintained a varied performing career across the United States. Over the years, she has had the privilege of working with Utah Lyric Opera, Utah Opera, The Ohio Light Opera, The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Plan-B Theatre Company, and Play is the Thing. She holds a particular passion for developing and performing new and local work and has been lucky enough to perform roles in new plays by Emily Dendinger, Tammy Ryan, Rachel Bublitz, and Jamie Wilcox. 

In her free time, Amy can never decide on a single hobby, so she may be found hiking, reading, figure skating, taking pictures, knitting enormous blankets, or playing video games, but most of the time you can find her on her couch, snuggling her precious cat, Sammy. 

Amanda Anne Dayton - Education Director

Amanda is an Egyptian YouTheatre Associate Education Director. She is an actor, singer, dancer, and stage combatant from Salt Lake City, Utah. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Southern Utah University before she began working professionally in Chicago. After which, she went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Central Florida. 

Amanda began her theatre education work during her graduate program where she taught undergraduate classes at UCF as well as youth theatre classes at Orlando Shakes. Watching her students grow and develop their talents and confidence was incredibly rewarding and she quickly fell in love with the education side of theatre. She believes that through theatre our youth can explore all different facets of their personalities and develop into the best version of themselves possible. 

Outside of YouTheatre Amanda continues to work professionally as an actor throughout the Salt Lake area. Her most recent roles include Catherine in The Foreigner at West Valley Performing Arts Center, Madeline True in The Wild Party with Hart Theatre Company, as well as various commercial and television shoots through her agents at TMG. Some of her favorite roles have included Anybodys in West Side Story, Guildenstern in Hamlet, Electra in Iphigenia and Other Daughters, and her thesis role of Theresa Bedell in Boy Gets Girl. 

When not performing Amanda can often be found reading, playing or planning Dungeons and Dragons games, cooking delicious food (solely for the purpose of eating said food), playing video games, hanging out with her family, and going on adventures with her wife Sasha and their adorable and very energetic dog Indie. 

Sydney Joy - Program Manager

Sydney Joy is the Program Manager for Egyptian YouTheatre, joining in 2022. She is a former ballet dancer with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet from the University of Utah, and former administrator with previous roles with the Utah Division of Real Estate. 

During Sydney’s BFA she performed original works by Matthew Neenan, Melissa Bobick, Jay Kim, and a restaging of August Bournonville's Le Conservatoire by Jeff Rogers. She delved into choreography with her own piece, when we falter, and focused her studies on exploring the intersections and representation of gender and identity within dance. Sydney’s other training and performance opportunities included George Balanchine's Serenade staged by Sandra Jennings and original works by Julia Adam while at Marin Ballet, The Nutcracker with Oakland Ballet Company, and summer intensives with State Street Ballet and The Rock School for Dance Education. 

Outside of work, Sydney loves to knit and sew her own clothes, is always looking for a new book recommendation, and is enjoying being a beginner in boxing classes. She adopted her first dog, Scooch, and is loving the many joys and challenges of having a deaf pet. She is so excited to be surrounded by the performing arts again and be able to witness the magic that is children’s creativity.

Gabriela Baguley - Technical Director

Gabriela is an Associate Education Director at Egyptian YouTheatre. She has worked for Egyptian YouTheatre since 2019. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young-Idaho in Theatre & Speech Education with a Minor in History Education. There she directed a middle school after school program of the Lion King and discovered she loved teaching pre-teens. She has a passion for how theatre education can enrich the lives of children by teaching emotional development, social skills and speech techniques. 

After earning her degree, Gabriela taught in public education for 5 years, teaching courses in drama, stage production, and musical theatre. Along with her class load, she worked as producer, director, and head technician for the annual musical. Favorites include Descendants, Wizard of Oz, and Once On This Island. She specializes in teaching drama through her own curriculum and while working for the Granite District she wrote state drama standards and rubrics for other drama teachers. During the pandemic, her online drama courses were used across the district. Gabriela has also worked at the community level as a light designer and sound engineer for several theaters across the state.        

In her free time, she loves to celebrate her Brazilian heritage, travel, read a good book for book club and spend time with her dogs Lily and Mini. Of course, going to theatrical productions is a big part of how she continues to be inspired in her own theatre pursuits. 

Scott Frederick - Facilities Manager

Scott has always been interested in the stage, performing, and all things technical since his first play in third grade. His interest in tech came to a head in 1983 when he became a laserist, performing laser shows in planetariums all over the U.S. In 1985 he directed the production of laser shows for planetariums while living in Springfield, Virginia.  

In 1991 he moved to SLC and shortly after became the laserist in the Hansen Planetarium. In 1996 he accepted a job at KJZZ TV as a master control operator and worked in television in various positions for 10 years. While at KJZZ he met Randy Barton and helped Randy with lighting and video at his club, The Wooden Dog, until it closed.  

Scott bought a digital SLR in 2003 and started shooting still photos, falling in love with the medium. In 2006 he spent the summer in Moab shooting professionally for Moab Action Shots.  

In the fall of 2006, he returned to school and earned an Associate degree in Communications from The College of Eastern Utah, where he won awards for writing and photography.  While attending CEU, he had the opportunity to teach Basic Digital Photography, a role he loved. After working for a year, he enrolled at The University of Utah and earned a B.S. in communications, graduating at the top of his class in 2014.  

Shortly after graduating, he became a para-professional at Escalante Elementary and joined the Jumbotron crew of the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake Bees for seven seasons before joining the Egyptian Youth Theater in 2022. "On my first day at the Youth Theater the whole staff was eating lunch together, talking and laughing. I looked at my new co-workers, in this beautiful facility and with a lump in my throat, and thought: these are my people, this is my place."  

When not at the theater Scott can be found hanging with his girlfriend Lynette playing disc golf, going to a concert, camping, hiking or especially, rafting a western river. 

Rachel Bublitz - Resident Playwright

Rachel Bublitz is an award winning and internationally produced playwright known for telling stories about women, and creating exciting new work for young performers. 

She received the prestigious Will Glickman Award for the best premiere play in the San Francisco Bay Area for her full-length RIPPED. In 2015 she was recognized as the top emerging female playwright in the Bay Area, receiving the June Anne Baker Prize. Her work has been produced at theaters and schools across the country, as well as Canada and England. 

In her move to Salt Lake, Rachel found a wealth of new theaters and artists to collaborate with. In Salt Lake she’s received multiple readings with Salt Lake Acting Company (RIPPED and BURST and joined the Plan-B Lab. In Park City, Rachel’s had three commissioned works from the Egyptian YouTheatre; CHEERLEADERS VS. ALIENS (a sci-fi comedy directed by Alicia Washington, World Premiere in 2018), THE NIGHT WITCHES (directed by Alexandra Harbold, World Premiere in 2019, at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival to a sold out run, a remount is planned for Spring 2020 in Park City), and THE SUMMER I HOWLED (a horror comedy, to be directed by Jamie Wilcox, World Premiere in October 2020). Rachel has also had the pleasure of working in Ogden, at Good Company Theatre, where the Utah Premiere of RIPPED took place. Plan-B Theatre will tour Rachel’s play PRESENTING: SUPER CAT & REPTILE ROBOT IN THE TERRIBLE TICKLE TROUBLE for their 2019/2020 Elementary School Tour. In Cedar City, at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, Rachel had the pleasure of having the first public reading of BURST. 

Dan Varas - Lead Instructor

Mr. Dan has been teaching kids for 22 years.

He began teaching at both Hogle and Pocatello Zoos where he wrote and performed educational live animal and puppet shows. 

He studied Theatre with an emphasis in Directing at Southern Utah University. He then went on to become the youngest board member of Pocatello’s Westside Players Dinner Theatre where he produced, directed and acted for 5 years. 

The whole time he had a full time job as a Chef. “And boy was I tired” 

After moving back home to Salt Lake City, Mr. Dan was contracted by YouTheatre to make the puppets for the 2018 production of James and the Giant Peach. He has been resident teacher for the YouTheatre After School and Summer Programs ever since and loves every minute of it. 

Nuni Noa Akman - Resident Instructor

Nuni Akman has joined YouTheatre as a resident teacher, with an extensive performance background.  Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, she grew up in a creative home. Her mom, a Spanish literacy professor, and dad, an accountant by day and an aspiring writer by night, instilled the love of the written word, art, and theater in her at an early age and haven’t stopped since.  

Throughout her upbringing she took part in numerous writing and theater programs, and has performed and lead children theater groups in both her hometown and in the Argentinian Jewish community. After completing her BA in Performance Arts from the Public University of Buenos Aires (U.B.A - Universidad de Buenos Aires), she moved to the United States to pursue her passion of surfing and ocean sports, living in Maui, Hawaii for 14 years. She now lives with her husband and beautiful daughter in Park City, UT. 

While on Maui, she performed with several theater groups and long-running shows. Her credits include cast member dancer for ‘Burning Love’ and ‘Algeria’ from Cirque Do Soleil, the Keali'i Reichel Hula Halau Ke’alaokamaile and many more. 

Alison Horton - Resident Instructor

Alison Horton joined Egyptian YouTheater in the spring doing choreography for Freckleface Strawberry! She has been dancing since the age of 3 and has always had a passion for dance and musical theater. Some of her acting credits include Holiday Inn, Crazy For You, and most recently as Kitty in The Drowsy Chaperone. She is currently an assistant coach for the Northridge High School drill team. Ali is also a dancer for the Senate Salt Lake City dance team and is an owner and performer at Once Upon a Dream Celebrations, a character entertainment company based in northern Utah. When she isn’t performing or teaching you can find her hiking or kayaking with her dog Tagg.