Designer finds role

Michael Pacciorini was playing the lead in a stage production of Molliere's period comedy "The Doctor in Spite of Himself" when his pumpkin tights broke and he lost the bottom half of his costume.

People thought it was part of the show, but to this day, Pacciorini has not let go of his initial reaction.

"It was the most embarrassing moment in my life," said Pacciorini, 40, seated in the costume shop at Cal State Long Beach. "I vowed never to let anybody make a costume without me again."

He has been a man true to his words. Pacciorini is the costume shop manager for the CSULB Theatre Department.

The costume shop is where he has played the role of the headmaster since 1991. Five days a week, nine hours a day, he oversees the designing, cutting and stitching of costumes for five to seven shows a season. However there was a time when things were very different.

Pacciorini was one class away from completing an accounting major at Gauvelin Junior College in 1979.

During his second-to-last semester he decided to enroll in a theater lighting class because it "seemed like fun at the time."

"I was doing theater lighting at the time and one day I was caught badmouthing the costumes of a production of Kismet," said Pacciorini. "The costume designer called me down and said, ëif you can do better, then come show us,' and the next day, I did." That one incident changed his life.

In 1985 he came to CSULB for graduate school, becoming the first MFA to go through the costume design program. The teachers that taught him would eventually become part of his faculty members.

The film industry beckoned Pacciorini in 1988. However, it was not Hollywood, but rather Hollywood Rags Film, a studio that Pacciorini described as "a trashy, B-movie company."

"One of the films was called ëSquad' and it was about a psycho cop killer with mechanical arms like the Terminator. It was just horrible. Some of the movies were so bad that I chose not to have my name on them."
But he also learned many valuable tools working in the film industry.

Pacciorini stressed that the organization of the CSULB costume shop reflects the work ethics of a film studio. "The background in film was good because it was based on money," he said.

"All the productions are done on time and hopefully under budget."

Theater is more predictable than film because you are able to overlap three shows at one time. It gives you a chance to always be ready for the next one, Pacciorini said. And like a strict studio executive at Paramount, he makes sure that everybody understands the words "get it done."

"He doesn't really compromise his ideas for anybody," said Amanda Seymour, an undergraduate theater student majoring in costume design, who has known Pacciorini for three years. "What really makes him who he is, is how organized he is."

Pacciorini applies everything he has learned to the work in the costume shop, which has left an impression on students. Many keep in touch with him long after they leave CSULB.

"They call and check up with dad," Pacciorini admits proudly.