B. Modern creates decadent costumes from scraps, rags and mad thrifting
Eccentricity, beauty, people, stories. “That’s what I love about working with the theater,” says costume designer B. Modern, whose colorful wardrobe artistry has clothed Bay Area actors for three decades. And besides, the prolific Santa Cruz-based costume designer confesses, “I’m a good scavenger.” She needs to be, given the fringe nature of regional theater and its never-enough funding.
Well into work for the upcoming season of Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Modern was an eye-popping advert for her craft the day we met in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen—chartreuse jacket; an orange, turquoise and chartreuse scarf; enormous Prada knock-off owl-eye glasses (“I love curlicues!”) and those green and black Mary Janes with kitty faces on the toes. Modern makes an indelible visual statement just going about everyday life, although we all suspect that “everyday life” for a theatrical costume designer is a bit more dramatic. After studying dramatic arts and costume design at UC Berkeley, Modern gravitated toward Santa Cruz. “Once I discovered costume design I knew that this is what I was meant to do,” she says. As an art student who could sew, Modern was poised for work in fabric shops, and then gradually expanded into designing press materials, brochures and logos for theater-related companies.
“It was fun and affordable in those days to live in Santa Cruz,” she remembers. In the new wave days of the late ’70s, she adopted her memorable name. “My given name was Bette, but I was always called ‘B’.” She chose “Modern” as a reminder to always look forward. “Santa Cruz was a very open place,” she says. “I got lots of work doing brochures and graphic design. I’ve been very lucky,” she admits, her green eyes matching her ensemble.
She did her first costumes for Shakespeare Santa Cruz in 1988. “After one year doing costume design I was hooked,” says Modern. “It was Titus Andronicus. That was a legendary production, set in post-apocalyptic times when no one had done that before. It was bloody, crazy and wonderful.” The die was, so to speak, cast. “I figured I had only one life to live—and this was what I loved,” she says. Modern acquired a growing network of connections—directors who became friends, associates who invariably formed part of future productions—Tim Ocel, Paul Whitworth, Robert Kelly from Theaterworks. “I became part of their stable,” she says. “It’s great working with such smart directors. You’re never the smartest person in the room.”
Modern starts working on Santa Cruz Shakespeare productions in January. “I read the play and meet with the director. I want them to give me all their ideas. Then we go back and forth,” she explains. Modern does her homework. More flurry of ideas with the director. “Then I come up with the first set of designs, pencil on paper drawings. No color until I have the whole thing nailed down.” she says.
Once the look is finalized, “I clean everything up, copy it onto nice 13 by 17 sheets of paper at Kinko’s. Then I put on a book on tape,” she says, grinning, “and color it in with Prismacolor pencils. I can control and build up the color that way.”
Modern is currently working on “a combination of medieval and modern” costumes for Lady Macbeth. “We want the Scottish play to be gritty, dirty, gnarly, insane,” she says. Her tight budget requires plenty of ingenuity. And borrowing. “I have many friends at many companies. We have reciprocal relationships. We just can’t make it all from scratch.” she says. It takes altering, embellishing, and tons of thrift shopping. “I’m on eBay all the time. I comb every resource looking for the exact piece—up to the last minute. Foot issues are a big concern,” she reveals. “Actors spend a lot of time on their feet. I don’t want to find out about any foot issues at the last minute!”
Modern was born in Hollywood, where her dad managed a shoe store. That might explain the cat shoes she’s wearing. “I have 10 pairs,” she says. Why is she good at her work? “I’ve inherited a sunny disposition from my mom. As well as a touch of arthritis,” she jokes. “What I do isn’t easy, believe me. You’re always being judged. But I love clothing and I love to tell stories. The costumes help tell the story. That’s my goal.”
PHOTO: Modern is currently working on a combination of medieval and modern costumes for Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth. CHIP SCHEUER
