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Featured Member - December 2004

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Christine Menner is the featured member for December.
Christine was born in a hut in Malaysia. Sounds exotic doesn't it? Actually of course, the reality is a bit more prosaic. Her father was in the RAAF and was stationed at Butterworth at the time. The RAAF Hospital hadn't yet been completed, hence the hut.
It took four days to decide whether she wanted to enter this world at all and when she finally did arrive, her mother, who was expecting a boy, realized she'd delivered a drama queen!

Chris and her family left Malaysia in 1973. Due to her Dad's employment with the RAAF they moved around a lot and lived throughout most of Australia. In 1977 however, they decided to settle in Perth as they had other family here.

Christine's first theatrical venture, at the tender age of five, was playing Jiminy Cricket in a school play. From then on, when teachers forgot her name, they simply called her Jiminy Cricket - and this lasted until she entered highschool! Although she enjoyed performing for people, her love of theatre didn't really bloom until her Uncle, also an actor, took her to see a production of "Annie" at His Majesty's Theatre when she was 8. Chris was spellbound throughout the whole performance and her love of the theatre was born.

As an actor and dancer she has been involved in many productions at The Tivoli Theatre, Stirling Theatre, Theatre Sixteen (ECU) and MTC and has many memorable experiences from all the shows. Perhaps the one that made the biggest impression however, was having a 6 foot 7 inch Frankenstein stand on her foot during a dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in the show "Dracula Spectacula". This event caused her to mutter quite a few superlatives under her breath, especially since he was also her boyfriend... (now husband).

Christine has played many roles in theatre from treading the boards, to backstage, to front of house. Her interest led her to become a Drama Teacher and, although she has not been on stage for many years, she now gets enjoyment from seeing her students perform and watching their confidence and self-esteem grow.
Of late she has not been an active member of MTC as she is currently playing a new role, as mother of 2 year old Tahlia, (an even bigger drama queen than her mother) and of a 2 month old boy, Adrian. They keep her on her toes and she is sure they will love being involved in theatre just as much as their parents do.
Thank you for all your past involvement Chris. We look forward to welcoming you back to the spotlight in the future!