IN FONDEST MEMORY

KRIS COLLIER (d.2000)

As all her many friends will know by now, Kris Collier died on 15 June 2000.

Kris was very much in her prime and was probably one of the most active people at The Questors. As well as stage managing shows and serving in the Grapevine, she was working full time in the office as our Production Secretary. And she still found time to help form the 303 Theatre Company, specialising in plays based on the Terry Pratchett books - a passion of hers. Two of their productions have already been seen at The Questors, both directed by Kris. The company is already preparing for the next, Carpe Jugulum, in October [2000].

An extraordinary character, Kris is sorely missed by all of us. Her close friend Susan Reoch remembers her:

"I first met Kris about eight years ago in her role as stage manager. She was highly amused to learn years later that I’d found her pretty scary and had taken care not to incur her wrath. She could be stoical and downright bad tempered and didn’t suffer fools gladly. She was strong yet vulnerable and she was efficient yet messy. In fact it’s hard to know how to describe her because she was so multi-faceted. 'I was always a mucky pup', that’s how Kris described herself and she’d give that deep throaty chuckle of hers.

"Whilst other little girls were playing with their dolls. Kris was busy with the Black and Decker and were it not for the timely intervention of her sister Carolyn, she’d have had a few less finger nails to paint. She remained a tomboy all her life, a daredevil and an adventurer, but that still does not define her.

"Kris was a qualified barrister, she’d taken a course on sharks, then gone diving with them and sunbathed with an Iguana in the Galapagos Islands. Kris travelled around most of the world, through rain forests, down rivers, up mountains and was planning her next trip from her hospital bed. Kris had some wonderful stories to tell, (some too ribald to repeat here) which just don’t have the same magic if it isn’t Kris doing the telling; like boating down the Congo one dark night and being dazzled by the sight of a tree full of fireflies lighting up the banks like a Christmas tree. She called her travelling companion up to see and as he gazed in awe of this amazing spectacle he asked how she’d done it! That question says a lot about Kris too, how competent and clever she was and that it was conceivable that she could have pulled off such a thing.

"Despite her best efforts to be anonymous, Kris was known by everyone at The Questors and beyond in all her many and varied roles. She contributed in many ways to the theatre and thought of us all as her family and she was deeply moved to find how much she was loved in return.

"Kris was a completely unique and unforgettable character. She worked like a Trojan and played like a mischievous child. It goes without saying that for everything she did and everything she was, which was a great deal, she will be greatly remembered."

[Questopics 457, September 2005]