By Maureen Fox
Published: November 08, 2009

By Maureen Fox
Daily Titan Staff Writer

Racks of dresses, coats, shirts, pants and shoes line up in the back of the room. Spools of thread in every color hang on racks along the wall. Measuring tape, pin cushions and strips of fabric cover the tops of work counters.

The costume shop in the Performing Arts Building at Cal State Fullerton is where costumes for all of the university’s productions are created. Costumes help bring characters to life and establish the mood, setting and locale for performances.

For the upcoming production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which opens Nov. 13, an estimated 49 costumes have been collected. Some reused from previous shows, some are original clothing from the 1940s, and others are designed and made completely by hand.

Abel Zeballos, a professor of theater and design who has taught at several universities and has worked in costume, hair and make-up design for many professional theaters in the area, is the costume designer for “Streetcar.” He began working on the play almost six months ago.

“I’m one of those designers that it doesn’t matter what I do; it’s the process that I like,” Zeballos said.

Zeballos said he gets his inspiration from the actors themselves, but that most of his ideas come from his conversations with the director, who gives an idea of what concept they want to go with. He said that “Streetcar’s” director is experimenting with the set but that she wants realistic costumes.

“Certainly we want the period look. It’s very important that we do it in the time Tennessee Williams says this is happening,” Zeballos said.

While Zeballos has been coordinating with the director for several months, the process for creating new costumes starts about six to eight weeks before opening night. The steps for putting together all the costumes for a production are time-consuming.

First, Zeballos figures out how many costumes he needs for the production. This is usually a high number, and because of the furloughs and a 20 percent budget cut, the costume staff has fewer hours to maintain a high level of productivity and decided to scale down their workload.

“Streetcar” takes place in New Orleans in the 1940s. Because of the time period, Zeballos was able to reuse several costumes from previous productions. He then rented a few and located several original 1940s garments. He also found some dresses that he had altered to fit the time period. In the end, Zeballos only had to design and create three garments from start to finish.

After he sketched out his designs for the three outfits, Zeballos went in search of fabric.
He explained that designing and making costumes is all about the details.

Zeballos has to take into consideration how fabrics will look under stage lighting. He also has to make sure the costumes match the time period of the play. The fabric choices and styling must have the feel of the 1940s. Several actors will also change onstage, so even the underwear needs to be authentic.

Because of the time period and Blanche’s Southern-belle background, Zeballos is using a variety of silks, silk chiffons, silk taffetas and cotton for his fabric choices. Zeballos said he gets most of his fabrics from the garment district in Los Angeles, where the prices are cheaper and the selections are bigger.

Once they are designed, Zeballos then turns to his shop manager, Pam Bradley, to build the outfits.
Bradley, who has been working at CSUF for 19 years, said she loves the technical aspect of sewing. She takes Zeballos’ finished designs and turns them into the finished costumes. Of the three dresses being made from scratch, she is sewing two of them.

Zeballos explained that after she gets his designs, Bradley creates a pattern for the outfit, known as a mock-up, using leftover material from the shop. After the pattern is finished, Bradley sews the garment with the chosen fabric. For one of Blanche’s dresses, the pattern consists of white and blue scraps, but the finished product will be a rich, deep red.

Besides his shop manager, Zeballos relies on other shop assistants and graduate students to help him complete his projects.

One shop assistant is Chelsea Isaacs, who is working on altering a dress Zeballos found to make it look like it’s from the 1940s. She graduated from CSUF with a degree in theater acting in 1999 and has been working part time in the shop since 2001.

Isaacs said she loves working on the different projects and enjoys the company of her fellow workers.

“We have a good time,” Isaacs said. “We keep ourselves busy.”

Bradley Lock is another helper, a graduate student and costume stitcher who does a lot of alteration work. Lock graduated with his bachelors from the University of Southern Indiana and is working on his master’s in costume design.

Lock said he hasn’t decided if he wants to design costumes for theater or movies, but that he often gets his inspiration from the plays themselves. Lock said his favorite part is “seeing the finished product.”

Besides finishing up the costumes for “Streetcar,” the costume shop is also working on costumes for next week’s dance concert.

Lock laughed when asked how much work they have left to complete.

“I don’t even know. A lot,” Lock said. “But we’ll get it done.”

To finish in time for the shows, Zeballos said they will have to start working nights beginning next week.

They took the news well and joked about their workload. Despite the growing pile of costumes to make, the staff said they are optimistic about the finished products. Isaacs said she thinks the completed costumes for “Streetcar” will look “magnificent” on stage.