From College Park to “Chi-Raq”

Marci Rodgers M.F.A. ’16 had just eight hours to buy 100 pairs of fishnet stockings and padlocks in Chicago. Racing around the city, she hit nearly 10 clothing or hardware stores, calling shopkeepers en route to have the items ready when she arrived.

A production assistant on the costume design team for Spike Lee’s new film, “Chi-Raq,” she returned with full shopping bags and 30 minutes to spare, and both Lee and lead designer Ruth Carter praised her determination.

“There was no greater feeling knowing that they noticed and appreciated that what I personally did helped the show go on,” Rodgers says.

The movie is a modern take on the ancient Greek comedy “Lysistrata,” where the women of Athens—in this case, Chicago—withhold sex from their partners until they end their cycle of gang violence. Its title, a slang term coined by Chicagoans, represents the city’s South Side that is often likened to a war zone.

Long before the film’s limited release in December, Rodgers shadowed Carter for three months to research and prepare the purple and orange wardrobe, representing the opposing gangs in the movie.

When she wasn’t buying fabrics or scouring for costumes and accessories when filming began in May, the Chicago native immersed herself on the set to learn the design process and industry lingo.

She had always had a passion for fashion, inspired by her father, who sews most of his clothing and never sports a pair of blue jeans. (He joined Rodgers’ deadline shopping spree to help her cover more ground.) But before being flung into the costume design world, she earned degrees in business and marketing.

After budget cuts prompted layoffs at Howard University School of Law, where she served as the assistant director of admissions, Rodgers found herself without a job. But to her, this loss posed an opportunity to chase her dream, so she studied fashion design and marketing at the University of the Arts London at Central Saint Martins.

She was introduced to noted costume designer and Howard professor Reggie Ray, who took her on as his assistant for shows like “Two Trains Running,” “Black Nativity” and “Holler if Ya Hear Me.” There, she connected with Lee and costume designers for “Chi-Raq.”

During Rodgers’ visit to UMD, Professor Helen Huang convinced her to enroll in the three-year master’s program in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, where she now studies costume, scenic and lighting design courses. In fall 2014, she worked as Huang’s assistant designing costumes for “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Marie Antoinette.”

Many people envision costume designing as a glamorous role with perks of meeting A-list actors. In reality, Rodgers explains, anticipating and creating costumes that align with the director’s vision of the film is work.

“For me, as a young artist, it all goes back to intuition, following my gut and not second-guessing myself because that’s when mistakes are made,” Rodgers says.

The most rewarding part of working on “Chi-Raq” was that her father, Marshall Rodgers, played a small role in the movie.

“To see him light up on stage and shake hands with Mr. Lee, that’s when I knew he really understood what I do and that he was proud of me.”