The Heartbreak Choir at Pymble Players

David Allsopp reports on a community theatre directing debut which promises a heart-warming finish.

With a career spent directing high school musicals and student HSC productions, it seems a little ridiculous that it took until 2026 for Heather Pitt to make her directing debut in community theatre with the Pymble Players production of The Heartbreak Choir by Aidan Fennessy.

The play’s setup? A terrible incident has fractured a local community choir in country Australia, leaving its members struggling with the fallout. Yearning for the comfort and connection that singing gave them, several members form a new choir to create something hopeful through their shared passion.

What drew director Heather Pitt to this contemporary Australian story?

“I thought the play had the most beautiful characters,” said Heather.

“In real life, I'm drawn to funny, strong people who are authentic and warm and who don't hold back on both the good things and the bad things in their lives. We meet these characters after something tragic has happened, and this play is them trying to move forward – reflecting, recovering and rediscovering their sense of community.”

Heather was also drawn in by the play’s warm, light-hearted writing.

“The humour is very real. The writer, Aidan Fennessy, captures the relationships between the characters very truthfully. They're people that you feel like you know, and it's got such a heartwarming finish.”

While not being a musical, this play about a community choir called for a cast that could hold a tune. With that in mind, Heather made sure she had Musical Director Mark Pigot working with her right from the audition stage.

“We asked the auditionees to prepare 16 bars of a pop song to be sung a cappella, in addition to performing pieces from the play,” said Heather. “Being able to harmonise with another 4 or 5 people as a choir is a really specific talent.”

This combination of acting and singing brought a lot of new faces to auditions, with this being the first Pymble Players show for the entire cast of seven.

“We had a whole lot of new people come, with a lot of them having musical theatre experience,” said Heather. “They don't get daunted by the prospect of singing on stage, and I think this play presented a nice challenge for them, as it is for us on the production side as well. We'll be using microphones for the first time with this show. We've never done that before.”

Suggested by Mark Pigot, the mics will help moderate the volume difference between singing and speaking for the Zenith Theatre audience.

“It’ll help even it out a bit”, said Heather. “Mark pointed out that a lot of theatre companies now use little microphones that can be hidden in the hair of the actors. You see the National Theatre Live or even Sydney Theatre Company - they're all mic'd up!”

When it comes to directing, Heather loves the art of collaboration.

“It's unbelievable! Sometimes I feel guilty, because I think ‘this directing job's easy’; the key is to surround yourself with the right people, listen to them and then make some hard choices between good options. Collaborating is essential. There's no way you could do it all alone.”

While this is Heather’s first show with Pymble Players as a director, she is by no means a stranger to the theatre company – having acted in a number of productions in recent years.

“My first experience was playing Lottie in ‘Enchanted April’. I was so impressed by Jennifer Willison's direction. We had to cover so many locations on that tiny stage at the old theatre – from London to Tuscany. It was extraordinary. It was also the first time I met Wayne Chee, the lighting designer, and he blew me away with the way he could pinpoint the lights in tiny little areas representing different places. That's such great artistry.”

Heather also fondly recalled sharing a small dressing room with a dozen other actors during a production of ‘Embers’ at PP's old venue.

“I ended up setting up my dressing room in this tiny little shower cubicle, which no one ever used. I had my seat in there, and all my various character costumes. We each played about eight different characters. So that was funny!”

Despite the cramped conditions, Heather has always kept coming back for more.

“I love the people. Community theatre people are so passionate about their art. We love making art. They're such warm people that I've never had a bad experience.”

A sentiment shared by most of us who work in community theatre.

The Pymble Players production of The Heartbreak Choir runs from 20 – 29 March 2026 at the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood.

For tickets and more information visit  https://pymbleplayers.com.au/tickets

Click here to read our feature about Community Theatre seasons across Australia in 2026.

Photographer: Daniel Ferris.