Contact & Info

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Mailing Address
Penrith Musical Comedy Company
PO Box 203, Emu Plains NSW 2750

E-mail Address
penrithmusical@gmail.com

Committee

Penrith Musical Comedy Company is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by a volunteer committee.

President: Grant Jones
Vice President: Fiona Grout-Smith
Treasurer: Jim Pope
Assistant Treasurer: Craig Morphett
Secretary: Megan Grantham
Marketing Officer: Laura Hodge

Committee Members
Susan Graham, Brenden Neaton, Annie Lindsay, Margaret Pope, Bek Want

About PMCC

In 1978 Penrith Musical Comedy Company came into being as Penrith Youth Musical Society. It was started by a handful of teenagers from Kingswood High School. At the time, the school was not mounting Musicals, performed by the students. With the help of Wayne Findlay and Inga Neugebauer, an MS sufferer, the group was formed. A few weeks later, Wendy Parsons and Margaret Pope were asked to come along and help get the first show on the road. They were considered the elders of the group, both being in their thirties. Margaret and her twelve year old daughter, now Coralie Rajnovic, are the only founding members still involved with the group. With no money and little experience, Wayne Findlay produced the first production, Salad Days. The average age of the cast was approximately seventeen.

Since then the group has produced two shows a year. It has also grown and expanded. The age of the participants now ranges from six to seventy. At times, three generations of certain families have been involved in the same production. There have been two name changes, ”Penrith Musical Society” thence “Penrith Musical Comedy Company”. The members feel that the present name most clearly describes the productions.

Over the years, the group has provided Penrith and surrounding communities with consistently high caliber, affordable family entertainment. The group has entertained at Nursing Homes, Retirement Villages, Meals on Wheels functions, Senior Groups, The Biggest Morning Tea and others. This particular community service is probably the most satisfying of the year.

All of our members contribute unselfishly and without payment to this group. Most hold down full-time jobs, rehearse two nights a week and pay fees to help offset the cost of the rehearsal venue. We also nurture families, build and paint scenery, make costumes, raise funds to offset the cost of mounting the productions, which is rising rapidly, and manage to enjoy ourselves at the same time. It has been said that the rehearsals are sometimes more hilarious than the show. Firm friendships are often formed. Many of these friendships span more than twenty-six years.

The variation in shows performed is surprising. The group has done, over the years, Musical Comedy, Gilbert & Sullivan, Old Time Music Hall, Variety Shows, Australian written farces, one Musical Soapie, written and directed by a local man, Christopher Barnes, a Pantomime.

Says Margaret Pope (past PMCC president of a number of years), "I have often been told, Penrith is a cultural desert. I don’t believe this”.

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