All Sewn Up Frank Champa a natural fit as costume designer for Penobscot Theatre production

Frank Champa doesn’t start the day the same way as some costume designers who work in theater. He doesn’t sleep until noon. He doesn’t ease into the day. He rises with the sun to cook at Ralph’s Cafe, his family’s restaurant in Brooks. In recent weeks, however, he has been ending the day at Penobscot Theatre Company, where he designed costumes for a production of Eugene O’Neill’s wrenching drama “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” running through March 20 at the Bangor Opera House.

At 33, Champa has already worked more than 10 years in the fashion-design industry. He began with an education at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and at ESMOD, an international fashion school in Paris. After formal training, he designed clothes for Express, The Limited and Victoria’s Secret. Eventually, he worked on films and theater projects including the Broadway hits “The Crucible,” “Momma Mia” and “Dirty Blonde.” He also designed Britney Spears’ clothing for her world tour and Pepsi commercials. Most recently, he designed for “Macbeth” at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. The New York Times described Lady Macbeth as being “dressed ravishingly” by Champa.

It’s possible, however, that the show at Penobscot Theatre will be Champa’s last for a while. The competitiveness and back-stabbing ways of the fashion world began to wear on him when he was living in New Jersey, where he grew up. So when his family took an emotional weeklong vacation in Maine nearly two years ago in honor of his late father, who had died unexpectedly in his 50s, they fell in love with the area. Before leaving, they made an offer on an old ski lodge in Brooks. In April of last year, Champa, his mother, brother, sister (whose husband is serving in the military in Iraq), two nieces and a close family friend cut ties with New Jersey and moved to Brooks to start a new life.

“The fashion industry is horrible,” said Champa earlier this week while taking a break in the Green Room of the Opera House. “People can be very nasty. It took three days before my family knew we wanted to live in Maine. When we walked in that house, we looked at each other and said: This is it.”

When Champa and his family bought the lodge, they also purchased a former restaurant in Brooks. They each had some experience working in restaurant kitchens and thought the new business would be a good way to put their culinary skills to use. Ralph’s Cafe, which is named after Champa’s father, is open for breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday, and for dinners on Friday and Saturday.

Business is good, said Champa, and the family loves living in Maine. In terms of doing creative work, however, he was glad to make the connection with a nearby theater, even for a show that involves more collecting of costumes than designing. “Long Day’s Journey,” a family drama set in 1912, is a fairly straightforward assignment with a cast of three men and one woman.

“This show is not at all about the clothes,” said Champa, “and that makes it much harder than a musical or Shakespeare. When it’s so much about each individual character, you spend a lot of time talking to the actors about how they see themselves. You don’t want them overdone or overworked. Their clothes shouldn’t look like costumes.”

But they should reveal subtle symbolism. For instance, as Mary (the wife and mother in the play) becomes more tormented emotionally, her clothing goes from cheerful to ghostly. The men’s outfits show signs of wear, similar to the way the family is worn out by financial and health struggles. The entire wardrobe seems to come from an old sepia photo, with browns, tans, grays and creams.

Champa does not allow any of these elements to shout out from the stage, however. For just that reason, he panned the costuming in the film “The Gangs of New York” as too obvious, and praised the costume design of the film “Moulin Rouge” for its elegant depiction of the Paris dance hall.

“Frank is a very detailed, research-based designer,” said Brian Timmer, costume director at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. “He’s a hands-on designer. He not only draws the pictures and selects the fabric, but he is also capable of making the pattern and doing every facet of the construction. Of all the people who come through here, he’s my favorite because he wants to participate in 100 percent of the production.”

Timmer, who has worked with Champa on several productions, grew up in the Midwest and gravitated naturally toward New York City, which he calls the “epicenter” of the costuming field. For that reason, Champa’s escape to Maine surprised him, but he hopes his artistic colleague will return to New Jersey to work on shows in the future.

“If I have anything to say about it, he will,” said Timmer. “If nothing else, I’ll come up and have breakfast at his diner.”

Penobscot Theatre Company will present “Long Day’s Journey into Night” through March 20 at the Bangor Opera House at 131 Main St. For information, call 942-3333.