From Bloomington to Broadway and back

Theatrical set and costume design master Robert O’Hearn retired from the IU faculty following the completion of William Bolcom’s opera “A Wedding” earlier this month. \nO’Hearn has been wowing theater audiences with his exciting set designs and clever costuming since the 1940s. He has more than 80 design credits to his name that span six decades. \nThe 1943 IU graduate’s prolific career bounced him from Bloomington to Broadway and back again, where he has remained since his appointment to the IU faculty in 1988. O’Hearn has 30 IU theatre, opera and ballet productions to his name, many of which he considers his finest work. \n“The last 20 years have been a fabulous experience,” O’Hearn said. “It is incredible when you are working with famous professors and graduates who are coveted by the industry.” \nAt 86, O’Hearn is IU’s oldest faculty member, and he will be missed. Described as incredibly knowledgeable and artistically gifted, O’Hearn’s designs have helped push IU’s opera and ballet departments into national prominence. \nIU Ballet Department Chair Michael Vernon helps oversee a program geared toward giving students the opportunity to perform as professional dancers. O’Hearn has been instrumental in the designing and costuming of several of these professional-quality productions. \n“Everything he comes up with is exactly right,” Vernon said. “I’ve been so grateful to work with him, and he’ll be missed very much.” \nO’Hearn’s set designs have set standards of utility and modernity. Vernon said he admires O’Hearn’s ability to continuously integrate new concepts into his set designs. The sets are an exciting legacy for a man who adored opera from an early age. \nO’Hearn started listening to New York Metropolitan Opera broadcasts when they began in the 1930s and has kept an open ear ever since. His renowned body of work epitomizes his willingness to always accept new ideas. \n“Robert is much more open with his work than many set designers who are much younger,” Vernon said. “He has a great sense of design and impeccable taste.” \nBorn in Elkhart, Ind., O’Hearn started his career with the Harvard University Brattle Theater group as executive set designer. He spent the majority of the next four decades in New York City designing sets and costumes on Broadway and for the Metropolitan Opera, among several other theater groups. \nSo why would a man at the pinnacle of his career want to leave the bright lights and mega-productions of the big city and come back to the country? \n“I got tired of the car horns,” O’Hearn said. “Well, that and the dean of the music school gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” \nO’Hearn applauds the Jacobs school for its excellent resources and the professional experience it offers to its students. He said he savors the fact that the Musical Arts Center possesses the production capabilities of the world’s top-tier theaters. \n“We have a wonderful theater, which is almost identical to the stage at the Metropolitan Opera,” O’Hearn said. “The stages are huge so you can do almost anything here.” \nEleonore Maudry has worked within the IU theatre department since 1998. She said O’Hearn’s knack for designing eye-catching costumes that still allow dancers to move and leap freely is an invaluable artistic commodity. \n“He always makes it clear precisely what he wants from a costume,” Maudry said. “He has a wonderful knowledge of ballet and pushes us to attain the highest quality of theatrical production possible.” \nAlthough the Feb. 9 finale marked O’Hearn’s retirement, audiences will be admiring his sets for decades to come as they are reused within the Jacobs School and elsewhere. \n“The high integrity of his work ensures that it will be used in many future productions,” Maudry said. “The theater will keep his spirit alive.”