Castle Hill Players loses a treasured friend

The Hills District theatrical community, based at the Pavilion Theatre on Castle Hill Showground, is in deep shock and mourning today, following the tragic, sudden loss of one of its own.

Fiona Churchward Whitehouse was killed in a traffic accident last Friday night, June 14^th, as she travelled with her husband to attend the opening night performance of ‘Enemy of the People.’

The Churchward family is synonymous with the Pavilion Theatre. Fiona’s mother Jean became a member in the 1980s, when her beloved youngest daughter was still a child. Fiona and her big brother Sean became members as soon as they were able, and with their mother made the Players a large part of their lives.

For nearly twenty years, on stage and backstage, helping with costuming, stage management, set building, lighting operation, props, makeup, box office, serving patrons at interval, prompting actors during rehearsals – if there was a job that needed doing at the Pavilion Theatre, Fiona did it with a laugh and a smile that lit up the room.

Fiona first acted on the Pavilion stage in 1994, appearing as Mustard Seed in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. She also appeared in ‘Where There’s A Will’, the theatre’s 50^th Anniversary Review, ‘Amadeus’, ‘The Crucible’ and ‘Dinkum Assorted’, in which she appeared on stage with her mother for the first time.

Fiona’s untimely passing has left the Players’ community irrevocably altered. The show will go on – the show always goes on, and Fiona would be disappointed if it didn’t – but the Pavilion Theatre won’t be the same without her.

With her recent marriage, Fiona had never been happier or more personally fulfilled. She would have celebrated her 40^th birthday on the 21^st June.