1924-2017
Helen Pond’s scenic designs have appeared in many theaters from our own Cape Playhouse to Boston to Broadway. Her career spanned 38 years and in that time she created nearly 400 set designs at Cape Playhouse alone. Her artistic partner, as well as life partner, Herbert Senn, worked with her on elaborate award-winning scenery used for more than 35 years for Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker.
They also created more than 60 sets for Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston, including Voyage to the Moon, which was shown at the White House for President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Apollo astronauts in 1967. Pond and Senn designed for operas in New York and Houston, nine Broadway shows including Show Boat and the 1981 revival of Macbeth, and many off-Broadway and regional productions.
Pond received a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. The Cape Playhouse’s scene shop is named for Pond and Senn.
