Issue 1 2026

Pymble Players Inc is a proud member of The Association of Community Theatre Inc.

From the President

Hello members and past members, and a happy new year to all!!

Our heartfelt congratulations to Director Alexandra Pelvin and all the PP team on the success of The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race. This, our third and final play for 2025, again excelled our target audience expectations. We were honoured on Opening Night by the attendance of both Mayor Tanya Taylor and Councillor John Moratelli of Willoughby City Council, and the Mayor’s encouraging speech at the after-show event. Your committee is delighted by the success of our transition to the Zenith Theatre, Chatswood in 2025 with casts, crews, front of house and audiences embracing our new home and filling it with warmth and high-quality performances.

Our first 2026 play, The Heartbreak Choir by Aidan Fennessy, is a warm, funny and poignant story which will delight our audiences. Rehearsals are well underway at our now well-established facilities at Killarney Heights. Director Heather Pitt brings decades of experience as an actor, director and drama teacher and was last seen on our stage performing her hilarious turn in our first production at the Zenith, It’s Only a Play. Full team details for The Heartbreak Choir are on our website. It is very gratifying to see so many new faces in both our cast and crew. Bookings open 6 February, and the play will run from 20-29 March. Note that, due to the popularity of matinees, we have added an additional Sunday matinee performance to each of the three shows this year.

On a sad note, please see elsewhere in this newsletter a Vale for Nanette Frew who recently passed on. Our condolences are extended to her family and friends. Nanette was well-known and loved by various community theatres and across the performing arts industry. I personally have had the pleasure and fond memories of performing with Nanette back in 1993 with the Genesian Theatre company.

We hope to see you all at The Heartbreak Choir. And if you haven’t already done so, please book and spread the word about the 2026 subscription season. You should have all received the subscription brochure and if not the details of the three terrific 2026 plays are on the Pymble Players website.

A very entertaining mixture of warmth, hilarity and celebration is in store.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and safe 2026.

Warren Blood
President

AND THAT’S A WRAP! – The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race

By Melanie Tait
By Arrangement with LMCM on behalf of Melanie Tait
Directed by Alexandra Pelvin

24 October – 1 November 2025

The race is run and the dust has settled on the track. A massive thank you to everyone who made The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race such a resounding success and special experience. To the incredible cast, thank you for bringing so much heart and humour to the stage every night. To the dedicated production team and committee, your tireless work behind the scenes was the engine that kept this race running smoothly. And finally, to our wonderful audiences - thank you for coming along, cheering loudly, and sharing in the spirit of Appleton with us. We couldn't have crossed the finish line without you!

Alexandra Pelvin, Director

By Aidan Fennessy
By arrangement with Nova Weetman c/- Creative Representation
Directed by Heather Pitt

20 – 29 March 2026

A terrible incident fractures the local community choir leaving a number of its members struggling to reconcile with the fallout. Yearning for the comfort and connection that singing gave them, they form a new choir to try to create something hopeful through their shared passion.

This warm, funny and moving play takes us on a journey through heartbreak and reconnection through the power of music, friendship and community.

Cast

A Note from our Director

Rehearsals are well underway and I have been blown away by the talent of our cast, most of whom are new to Pymble Players. The sound of their voices soaring in harmony, (under the very experienced musical direction of Mark Pigot) brings tingles to my skin and soul! The set is nearly constructed, and we are enjoying the summer evenings rehearsing in ‘The Chalet’ in Killarney Heights. I am being supported by a fabulous assistant director, Daniel Ferris, as well as a sound and lighting design team led by Wayne Chee. We have several new young people involved in this production, including Nicholas Pang on sound design and Jemima Anderson stage managing. I am sure your heart will sing when you come to the Zenith Theatre in March to see this beautiful Australian contemporary play. See you there!

Heather Pitt, Director

About Heather Pitt

Having performed in seven productions for Pymble Players, the last seen as Virginia Noyes in It’s Only a Play, this is Heather’s debut as director. She has previously directed school musicals as well as written and directed short scenes and longer plays for youth theatre groups. Heather trained at the Ensemble Studios and worked professionally as an actor for ten years before embarking on a High School Drama teaching career. Musically, Heather played the clarinet in her school band and has sung in a couple of choirs. She is delighted to be directing this warm and uplifting play.

Bookings open 6 February 2026.

VALE NANETTE FREW

By Geoff Jones, PP Life Member:

Nanette was a long-time contributor to Pymble Players. She was a life member, an actress, director and a most valuable intellect renowned for her analytical rigor and contribution to other members. Pymble Players is the better for having been enhanced by her energy and tireless pursuit of the best possible productions.

Several of our current members and past members have benefited from her penetrating insights; Liz Thomas, Racquel Boyd, Linda Young, Jim Burns, Des Harris, Chris Clark et al, in plays such as Dancing at Lughnasa, Russian Spring-(Yalta Game and The Bear) and 12 Angry Men. Her final onstage performance was in Waiting in the Wings.

Nanette spoke her mind. She had a ready humour and felt deeply when performances moved her. Similarly, Nanette was generous enough to point out improvements for other productions on occasion!

We are so fortunate to have had Nanette Frew enrich our theatre group. Thank you, Nanette.

Remembering Nanette Frew (1934–2025)

By Stuart Hendricks, Managing Director of Music Theatre International Australasia

I first met Nanette 25 years ago when she interviewed me to establish the Theatrical Licensing division of Hal Leonard Australia. From that very first meeting, I understood what so many others already knew: Nanette was a formidable presence in Australian and international theatre — principled, knowledgeable, and quietly powerful. What I couldn’t have known then was that this meeting would be the start of one of the most important friendships and mentorships of my career.

Mary Nanette Curtain was born on 22 May 1934 in the NSW country town of Corowa. The family later moved to Sale, Victoria, where Nanette attended the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion as a scholarship day student.

Nanette entered the workforce early, taking a school-holiday job at Radio 3TR. She loved the job so much, she chose to remain employed there instead of completing school — a decision she later said shaped her independence and confidence. That early exposure to writing and communication led to a decade-long career in advertising agencies as a copywriter for radio and the early days of television. Her work took her to Brisbane, where she met her future husband, Don Frew. In a male-dominated industry, Nanette earned professional respect through her intellect and determination.

After marrying in 1962, Nanette and Don moved to Sydney, where they built a home in Elanora Heights and raised their daughters, Genevieve and Wendy. She helped form the Elanora Players, acting in and directing productions. Becoming a central creative force within the group, Nanette Frew found her calling.

Her performance work extended across theatres in Sale, Brisbane, Sydney, and notably The Genesian Theatre, where she became a life member in 1996. Nanette took on a wide range of roles, from dramatic to fast-paced comedies. Highlights included the tour-de-force comic role of Madame Arcati in Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, the tragic matriarch Amanda in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, the heartbreaking role of Martha in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, and the strong-willed Grace in William Inge’s Bus Stop. These roles exemplified her personality — intelligent, emotionally grounded, and a woman with impeccable comic timing.

As a director, Nanette was admired for her calm authority and meticulous preparation. She guided her trusting actors in plays including Stepping Out, Deathtrap, Steel Magnolias, Dinkum Assorted, Dial “M” for Murder, and 12 Angry Men - her final directing engagement in 2015.

By the mid-1970s, Nanette had moved into theatrical publishing and licensing, joining Dominie Drama, where she managed the play division and the Samuel French catalogue. Her encyclopaedic knowledge of plays became an enormous asset, not just to the company but to the wider theatre community. Dominie’s founder praised her enthusiasm, efficiency, and warmth.

In 1984, Nanette took on her greatest professional challenge, heading the theatrical divisions at Chappell & Co., later Warner Chappell Music Australia. She worked as a licensing agent during a pivotal period for musical theatre, administering catalogues for the world’s leading rights agencies. These included the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, Josef Weinberger Ltd, Dramatists Play Service, Music Theatre International, and many Australian works, including Seven Little Australians.

At Warner Chappell, Nanette oversaw the performance rights for major works including Les Misérables, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Annie and the stage works of Stephen Sondheim, across professional tours, community theatres and schools. She worked with legendary producers and agents including Freddie Gershon, Kevin Jacobsen, Ken Mackenzie-Forbes and John Frost, earning enormous trust and respect in the industry. Nanette licensed national tours of the West Side Story, Singin’ in the Rain, Fiddler on the Roof starring Topol, and Fame - the Musical. Among her many highlights was a trip to New York for the opening of The King and I, where the John Frost production became the first Australian show to transfer to Broadway and later win the 1996 Tony Award for Best Revival. Nanette was a woman of integrity and passion. She believed deeply in being “firm but fair,” in treating people with respect, and in building relationships rather than simply conducting transactions.

She understood theatre from the inside as an actor and director. This understanding informed every decision she made.

After retiring, Nanette and Don enjoyed travelling in Australia and overseas before settling at Green Point on the Central Coast. After Don’s passing in 2004, Nanette showed remarkable resilience and relocated to Waitara, where she lived until 2025. She was a proud mother of Genevieve and Wendy and adoring grandmother to Georgia, Genevieve’s daughter.

To me, Nanette Frew was far more than a colleague. She had a dry, understated sense of humour and an ability to bring perspective to even the most stressful situations. Her presence was calming; her advice was thoughtful; her friendship was enduring.

Nanette’s legacy is not one of self-promotion or public acclaim, but of sustained, meaningful contribution. On stage and off, she strengthened Australian theatre and leaves a community forever changed by her presence.

Nanette, thank you for your wisdom, your strength, and your friendship. Thank you for showing us how to work with integrity, how to lead without ego, and how to care deeply without ever needing recognition. You will be missed, you are remembered, and you remain a part of the lives you helped shape.

ARTISTS’ INSIGHTS

Chemistry. Balance. Specificity. Clarity. If you’ve ever come painfully close to getting a part at an audition or call-back only to miss out, then this OnStage Blog article from Chris Peterson might be an eye-opener.

Kate Mannix, Margaret Olive, Emma LeBeuf, Chris Clark and Ross Alexander are appearing in Arsenic and Old Lace with Castle Hill Players at the Pavilion Theatre from 30 January – 21 February 2026.

David Allsopp will be appearing in A Few Good Men with Point Break Theatre Co. at Manly's Star of the Sea theatre from 20 - 29 March 2026

Kate Kelly and Karen Pattinson are performing in Away at Theatre on Chester from 10 April – 2 May 2026

Chantal Harrison is Co-Artistic Director of the Northern Beaches Youth Theatre and their International Premiere of Gale by Emily Golden from 18–27 June 2026. The play tackles the big issues today’s teens are grappling with, from displacement and anxiety to loyalty and courage...all with humour and heart. NBYT is a not-for-profit youth theatre committed to creating safe creative spaces for local youth to explore theatre and create community.