IU professor wins achievement award

When checking the mail a few months ago, IU alum, stage designer and Professor Robert O'Hearn got the surprise of his life. The Theatre Development Fund had invited him to New York City to receive the Robert L. B. Tobin award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design.\n"It was a great recognition, and neat to stand up and speak before 400 people," O'Hearn, 83, said. \nIn his acceptance speech, he thanked people for being a wonderful influence in his life, he said.\nBefore doing a show, O'Hearn said he listens to the opera on records and meets with the \ndirector.\n"It's best if there's equal collaboration," he said. "(We) try to figure out an exciting way to do it."\nO'Hearn creates color sketches of sets and costumes, and tries to picture how the entire end product will look as he makes his designs.\n"It's thrilling to design things and see them onstage," he said.\nO'Hearn said he believes the costumes show the character of the people.\n"He takes a personal interest in every costume," said Michelle Boyle, supervisor of costume construction with the IU theatre. "He's a very accommodating designer. He takes every element into consideration, (such as) cost and body type." \nDana Tzvetkov graduated from IU in 2000 with a major in costume construction and has been the First Hand in the costume department for the past year.\n"You learn so much by talking to him," she said. "Sometimes he'll bring in the New York Times to show us fashions."\n"We are very fortunate to have someone of his caliber," Boyle added. "He knows what he wants with the designs, but is flexible. He makes our job easier."\nAssistant to the Director of Costumes Elèonore Maudry agrees with the other workers that O'Hearn is a great asset.\n"He makes you a part of what he's done," she said.\nSince O'Hearn first began theatre design, he says many aspects of technology have changed.\n"Switchboards are much better. Everything is digital...it goes much faster, we can do a better job."\nStill, O'Hearn said the designers of the past were brilliant.\n"It's not so much the technology that makes things good, it's the designer," he said.\nHe has been involved with theatre since his days at South Bend Central High School. He went on to graduate from IU with a degree in theatre in 1943. From there, O'Hearn went to Cambridge, Mass., for set design at the Brattle Theatre.\nIn 1951, he designed Falstaff, his first opera. He has also created designs for the New York Metropolitan Opera.\nAccording to the Internet Broadway Database Web page, O'Hearn applied his artistic skill to 18 Broadway shows in the 1950s and 1960s. Titles include "The Pajama Game," "My Fair Lady" and "West Side Story." \nO'Hearn said he got involved with opera and found it more exciting than Broadway. His experiences in opera design allowed him to travel the globe, doing performances in Vienna, Hamburg, Bregenz, and Strasbourg. Domestically, O'Hearn has worked in Houston, Santa Fe and San Francisco, among other cities. \nIn 1989, O'Hearn came back to his Hoosier roots and became a professor and chair of the design department for the school of music. \n"I think working with students is what keeps him coming back, hearing the new ideas," Boyle said.\nO'Hearn is working on designing the fall and spring ballets for the upcoming school year. He said there are different challenges with ballets as opposed to opera.\n"We have to create an open space for dancers, which make for a different type of design," O'Hearn said.\nWhile he has lived in many locations while doing theatre work, O'Hearn is happy with his decision to move back to Bloomington. He said he enjoys working at the MAC and compares the backstage to the Met's in New York City.\n"I like it out here. Campus is beautiful and people don't honk (like in the city)," O'Hearn said.\nHe said there are other benefits of productions in the MAC.\n"The audience is much more intimate, which is good," O'Hearn said. "Singers don't have to strain their voices."\nO'Hearn said he listens to classical music all the time, and enjoys mainly 19th century composers. In his apartment, he has a stereo system with speakers in several rooms so he can enjoy the music throughout his home.\nHe said he feels sorry for people who don't appreciate classical music.\n"I hate rap, that's the worst thing that ever happened," he said\nO'Hearn emphasized the importance of establishing the bet point of view to express the theme and meaning of a piece when designing the set and creating costumes.\n"Otherwise you're just doing decoration," he said. "Don't do something just pretty, help give meaning of the piece."\nO'Hearn plans on spending his days using his talent and designing for theatre. "I'll continue as long as they'll have me"