Djuana Marie Strauch

Djuana Marie Strauch (DWAH-nuh STROWK) passed away surrounded by love at her home in Arvada, Colorado on October 30, 2025.

Born on December 20, 1966 in York, Pennsylvania, the daughter of William and Linda (Feeser) Strauch, Djuana knew from an early age that she wanted to be a stage manager. In 1988, she moved from Harrisburg to Houston, where she fulfilled her dream of earning her Actors’ Equity card at the Alley Theatre. Her innate organizational skills combined with her empathetic nature quickly endeared her to the actors she worked with and made her a favorite of many directors and designers.

While at the Alley, she had the joy and opportunity to work with such actors as Richard Thomas, Calista Flockhart, Roscoe Lee Browne, John Spencer, and the Alley’s extraordinarily talented resident company. It was also at the Alley in 1992 that she met Tom Kirkpatrick. Even though she was way out of his league, the two married on New Year’s Day in 1995.

Djuana also stage managed productions at Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Theatre Under the Stars, 5th Avenue Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, Fulton Theatre, and the LA production of Cole!.

While working on the pre-Broadway run of Jekyll & Hyde in Seattle, Djuana went into premature labor. A few days later, her son Henry was born. She and Tom would stay with Henry in the University of Washington Hospital NICU during the day and she would work backstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre by night. A few weeks later, the show closed and the new family returned to Houston. Sixteen months later, the family grew to four, when Hannah was born, two weeks after her due date and six weeks before the family moved to Iowa.

The family moved to Wilmington, Delaware after Tom graduated from the University of Iowa in 1998 and later to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2005. During this time, Djuana loved being near her parents in Harrisburg and especially spending time with them at their cabin near Lake Raystown. In 2015, Djuana and Tom moved to Colorado where she loved spending time in the mountains and being near her family and especially her young nieces, Sammy and Paige.

In addition to her love of theatre, she loved to cook and eat. No matter where she and Tom may have travelled, she could always find that town’s best restaurant. Her kindness, caring nature, and uncanny ability to know exactly what another person needed, even if they didn’t know what it was, will be immeasurably missed.

Survivors include her husband Tom; son Henry Kirkpatrick of Arvada, Colorado; daughter Hannah (Madison) Fry of Thornton, Colorado; mother Linda of Windsor, Pennsylvania; and brother Ted (Stephanie) Strauch of Golden, Colorado. Djuana was preceded in death by her father, Bill and her mother-in-law and father-in-law Lavon and David Kirkpatrick.

A celebration of Djuana’s life will be held on Thursday, November 20th. In lieu of flowers and plants, memorials may be directed to KUVO Jazz or a non-profit theatre company of the donor’s choosing.

“My, isn’t the moonlight terrible?” – Our Town, Act I

“We all know that something is eternal. And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth, and it ain’t even the stars… everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings.” – Our Town, Act III

“This is an aspen. You can tell that it’s an aspen tree because of the way that it is. Wow.” – Lenny Pepperbottom