Design for Proscenium for Hershey Community Theater, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Chocolate magnate Milton Hershey commissioned Louis Comfort Tiffany to design the interiors of the Hershey Theater as one of his many gifts to the town he created in Pennsylvania. Tiffany’s designs envelop the viewer in the aura of an Italian garden room. Tiffany used a rich variety of motifs and mediums in his designs for the proscenium arch and curtain of the Hershey Theater. Above the stage, impressionistic nymphs frolic in an oval cartouche while golden arabesque latticework echoes the gold threads incorporated into the rich crimson curtain. Tiffany’s decorative fantasy is completed by the classical detailing of the faux stonework and by the glittering evening sky that arches down toward the stage. The faux balustrade at the top of the wall still holds touches of its original gold color and would have contrasted boldly against the dark blue sky.
The death of Hershey’s wife in 1915 and World War I brought the project to a halt. When it was resumed in 1929, Hershey used the original plans drawn by C. Emlen Urban in 1915. Unfortunately, by then Tiffany had retired from the Studios and his interior design scheme was essentially abandoned. Today, the decoration of the theater bears little resemblance to Tiffany’s imaginative Italian fancy.