Sew behind the scenes

Published 7:00 am Saturday, December 17, 2005

Costume designer Barbara Klingberg brings sartorial flare to community theater.

The sewing machine needle quietly whirs through seams for a 19th-century style man’s shirt.

From a stuffed rack of costumes, a riot of textures and colors, islander Barbara Klingberg pulls out a dress that will be worn by Scrooge’s sister, Fan, with a pure white bonnet. Fan is the only character to wear pure white, “so she will glow like an angel,” she says.

All the other white of other characters, down to the thin strips in a plaid dress will be yellowed in tea.

“People say, ‘Oh, you won’t see it!’ but in reality, under the hot lights, you do see the details, it comes through as depth, texture,” Klingberg said. “What happens inside (the costume) is very important. If the seams are not clipped correctly the dress won’t hang properly.

“The audience will never see, but the actors will know and it’s going to make them feel more comfortable in their costume. You don’t want them to feel forced into their costume or anxious. You’ve got to provide a security for them.”

Words spoken like the pro she is.

Before Klingberg became an architect 30 years ago, she constructed costumes for four years at Barbara Matera, Inc., the premiere costume shop in New York City for Broadway shows – such as “Annie,” “Chicago” and “A Chorus Line” – film, ballet, opera and celebrities. She costume designed for off-off Broadway productions as well. Now she’s a local gem for community theater.

Ovation! Musical Theatre Bainbridge’s Ron Milton, director of “A Christmas Carol” in its final shows this weekend, has nothing but praise for her work.

“She’s extraordinary in that she stays within budget and creates wonderful pieces of art that support the performance and the vision of the show,” Milton said. “Each costume is designed and fits within the character’s world and the story as a whole. It acts as a moving set piece that moves the story forward.”

Behind the scenes

Klingberg got involved when her daughter appeared in a workshop production of “The Hobbit” with Milton. That was followed by Ovation!’s “Music Man” in July and “A Christmas Carol” this month.

Costuming for community theater, Klingberg doesn’t have the luxury of sending out for custom-made European fabrics as Barbara Matera did, but her economy is as fascinating as the lavish costumes she and her small army of volunteers create.

With a budget of about $57 for each actor that has to cover multiple costumes, Scrooge has nothing on Klingberg.

She raids the cheap linens at Value Village, and uses summery sheets for “Music Man” and richer pillow cases and upholstery samples for “Christmas Carol.” She finds treasures such as a $7.99 futon cover that becomes the robe for the “Spirit of Christmas Present.”

A cheap pillow’s trim edges a cape and its velvety-patterned cover lines the outside of a vest.

Kingberg started work on “The Music Man” seven months early. From the script, she researched period fashions, made sketches and shopped for fabrics well before casting started.

“I like developing the ideas, working with the characters, thinking about the play as a total production,” Klingberg said. “I’m very into the total visual impact of the scene.

“Ron freezes some scenes (in “Carol”) so you get the 19th-century tableau. It’s really delightful, so you get the richness of a painting.”

When Klingberg worked for Barbara Matera, she would get costume designs and swatches pre-selected by shoppers, but in community theater, “Here if I get a piece of fabric, it’ll push me toward a certain design,” she said. “I can’t go and pick out the perfect fabric. I have an idea of the color palette, so if I don’t get the colors, I put it in the dye bag.”

The construction is labor intensive; Klingberg estimates that she and her volunteers were pushing 1,000 hours on the costumes for “Christmas Carol,” and she was putting in 80 hours a week at the end with volunteers doing another 30-40 hours each.

Volunteer Kathy Doll and Klingberg pulled an all-nighter the Wednesday before opening night, while Cindy Randall was in the workshop almost every day.

To Klingberg, the effort is well worth the rewards.

“I think the nice thing is being able to work with a company. The actors are not just actors, they’re involved with the whole production, and chip in working on different aspects,” she said. “Everybody supports everybody else.”

While one person may take a starring role in one production, he or she may be working backstage crew on the next one.

Volunteer costume constructor Victoria Kight hadn’t done anything more complicated than Halloween costumes when she signed on.

Kight’s son and husband are in the show, and she figured, “if I wanted to see my family I had to do something (in theater). This is community theater and if your kids are doing it, you have to participate somehow. I’d rather be feeding them, but I can sew for them.”

After the show closes, Klingberg will carefully catalog and store the costumes, but first take off hooks and eyes, buttons, elastics to reuse. All of them would have to be moved in any case for the next wearer.

She also removes any special trim and ornaments like “Swanhilda,” a swan, which has been with Klingberg a long time, appearing in her last three productions and in “A Christmas Carol” adorning Mrs. Fezziwig’s hat

Beyond what her costumes add to the production, the real magic may be in the years of expertise Klingberg shares with the crew.

“So many of us weren’t sure we could sew,” Kight said.

Under Klingberg’s guidance, “You’ll get the pieces and a post-it note and before you know it, you’ve got a costume.”

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Tricks up her sleeve

“A Christmas Carol” was a challenge for Barbara Klingberg. Before she could start designing, she had to know the characters each actors played so that she could have each actors’ costumes layer on and off.

Carter Kight’s “young Scrooge” has to age from a middle schooler to a young man within the space of walking off stage – right arm already out of the coat plunging into the new costume – and turning around, walking into the rest of the one-piece tuxedo-coat-with-vest-collar-and-cravate padded to given him extra weight around the chest — and walking back out on stage. Velcro and magnets will help get the front to close neatly.

Little tricks of the trade like “cartridge pleating” – seldom seen anymore except along the yoke of graduation gowns – creates deep gathers in skirts.

To save time, Klingberg makes liberal use of a glue gun, to affix ornaments on hats, but sews on ribbons that will be stressed when tied under the chin. She displays a dress that was hand hemmed because of the delicate velvet, but wherever possible, Klingberg machine hems to save time.

A love for her art in an atmosphere of camraderie keeps her coming back.

“I’m thankful to Ron (Milton) for letting me do this. It’s an art you can’t practice very often,” she said. “To me, it’s almost a luxury to be able to do this. It’s painting with people and fabrics.”

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Costume party

See Barbara Klingberg’s costume creations in “A Christmas Carol” in its final shows 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Bainbridge High School LGI Room. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors/military (active and retired) and $9 for students, and available at Winslow Drug or www.ovationmtb.com. For reservations call 842-0472 or email info@ovationmtb.com.