Con Stewart
 

Con Stewart passed away 8th January 2009.  Con was a well known grand lady of musical theatre in the Wellington region, predominantly with Porirua Little Theatre and Tawa Community Theatre along with Greymouth and Dunedin Operatics and Masterton Amateur Theatrical Society. 

Con was awarded a MTNZ Merit Award in 1999 for her services to musical theatre nominated by Tawa Community Theatre and of course, her late husband Jack (also a merit award recipient) was the Federation librarian for many years.  We said goodbye to Con on Wednesday 14 January in Tawa at the Lady of Fatima Church.  Con's farewell was huge and there were many shared theatre moments, along with her involvement with bowls and the Lions Clubs around NZ.  Charles Ellis did a fantastic eulogy on behalf of the theatre community which her and Jack were such a huge part of - and you can read Charles' farewell to Con by clicking here.  Donna and I took a big bunch of pink and purple flowers complete with a fairy wand, and also a Flower Fairies card because as you all know, Con loved being a fairy.  I sprinkled glitter on them as well, and signed it from her MTNZ family across NZ. 

Charles summed it up really -
Con may have left the stage but she will be remembered and respected by the cast and crew forever

And from Rose Hudson - Tawa Community Theatre
As a force 6.9 earthquake rocked the lower half of the North Island in May 1990, few people guessed the epicentre was on the stage of Tawa Community Theatre's Olde Time Music Hall. Centre stage in her tutu and waving her wand Megastar Constance Patricia Stewart triumphantly plunged to the floor as she sang, "My splits are all the rage, but No-one Loves a Fairy When She's 40."  "I thought the applause was pretty weak," Con laughed later. "I didn't realise there had been an earthquake. Everyone was under their seats. The local paper wrote that my splits on my 70 year old knees, nearly brought the house down." Con's great love was Musical Theatre, and she was rewarded with the N.Z. Musical Theatre Federation's Merit Award for outstanding service to Musical Theatre. Whenever she was on stage there was a chance she would bring the house down, earthquakes or no earthquakes.

Con's love of the theatre and music began as a small child at home, where she could play the piano and sing with her family while her mother played the songs they all loved. She attended St. Mary's College in Wellington where she excelled in Music and Drama and was Head Girl and Dux. World War 2 broke out soon after Con left school. With her friends she helped entertain the visiting American Marines at Webby's Club and made friendships which lasted all her life. She never forgot the handsome young boys from the United States who were stationed in New Zealand from 1942 until 1945. The Community Hall at Titahi Bay, now occupied by Porirua Little Theatre, was a mess hall for Marines encamped in the area at this time. 50 years later in 1992 many of those American Veterans returned with their families for a reunion and musical celebration in the old mess hall. On to the stage twirled the Veteran Fairy and it was the applause from her 'dear boys' which nearly brought the house down on this occasion. She was extremely flattered when they asked for her autograph but, "they're all so old, and they've brought their wives," Con was heard to mutter later.

As a young school teacher at the Correspondence School Con helped open a new department for Special Needs students, and she met Helen Keller during her New Zealand tour. Helen Keller also had a great love of music and Con remembered this great lady standing with her hands on the Town Hall piano where she could feel the movement of the musical vibrations and the rhythmic changes.

After the war Constance Patricia O'Neill married Jack Stewart, a happy marriage which lasted over 50 years. Jack was a banker and the family, which soon included Bruce and Prue, moved around the country from bank to bank until 1976 when they finally settled in Tawa. Jack shared Con's love of music and the theatre and as a member of the New Zealand Theatre Federation he promoted live theatre where-ever they lived. While in Greymouth they helped restore the old Regent Theatre and directed several seasons of Old Time Music Hall at the Union Hotel. Con was the Music and Drama teacher at Patea College and to the bemusement of the older students directed a school musical with the unfortunate title "Little Gypsy Gay." During these years Con had lead roles in Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, The Boyfriend and was Mother Superior in Once a Catholic. When Tawa Community Theatre and Porirua Little staged the World War 2 revue, Somewhere Over There, Con was happy to hang up her tutu and other glamorous gowns and don a tin hat and great coat to become one of the blokes on the parade ground. 

Once in Wellington they immediately joined Wellington Musical Theatre, Repertory, Porirua Little Theatre, and the Tawa Linden Drama Society....now known as the Tawa Community Theatre. Con's theatrical Sunday Soirees became the talk of the town, attracting the Creme de la Creme of the local theatre world to their home in Sunrise Boulevard for various refreshments and an ever popular sing-along around the piano. Jack joined the Tawa Lions Club, and from there they managed to cast male chorus lines of handsome young and once young men, urgentLy needed for the wonderful series of revues and Music Halls Con has continued to direct until quite recently. "We've all been conned," one of the Tawa Lions lamented as he agonised his way through his first opening night. However the male chorus lines flourished with Con at the helm and many of her recruits found that life upon the wicked stage was not so bad after all and are still performing.

Con's final Soiree last week attracted a full house, every leading >lady's dream, it was just a shame she was not there to take a bow as >the final curtain fell.

Messages can be sent to: C/- The Stewart Family, PO Box 1257, Palmerston North Or Prue Copping, 18 Coates Street, Linden, Tawa