Pine Run Retirement Community and its Villagers Association present an exhibit of scenic and costume designs by Pine Run resident and scenic designer Henry Heymann.
The exhibit will be on view between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the lower level of the Pine Run Community Center, 777 Ferry Road in Doylestown, through Oct. 22.
Heymann’s long and distinguished career in design includes a resume of over 400 shows in theaters, operas, and ballets throughout the U.S., including New York City, Santa Fe Opera, and the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught (and designed) from 1967 to 1992.
The Pine Run exhibit showcases 70 sketches from 20 of these works, as well as original sketches from his 1960 application to join the United Scenic Artists Union in New York City. The United Scenic Artists Union exam, a prerequisite for designers who wish to work in New York City is a grueling, often feared, project consisting of sketches of costumes, scenery, and lighting from a play.
In Heymann’s project, the topic was Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” and it consisted of 18 items representing 14 scenes and 75 characters and costumes. He was one of only a few applicants to pass, out of 44 entrants that year.
Heymann bought a farm in Tinicum in 1960 and for many years visited the farm while teaching and designing at the University of Pittsburgh and other stages. Upon his retirement from teaching, he fell into a second career designing residential interiors.
After his second retirement, and a move to Pine Run Retirement Community, the Bucks County Gilbert and Sullivan Society has utilized Heymann’s talents for designs and costumes in their recent productions of “The Sorcerer” and “South Pacific.”
Most of Heymann’s designs are held in archives and collections of the theaters or universities.
The gallery in the Pine Run Community Center is home to solo and group shows of resident art centered on a theme. For information about Pine Run, call 800-992-8992 or visit pinerun.org.
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