Theatre Development Fund – TDF: How do you give outfits subtext? That's one of the many challenges Dede M. Ayite faced designing the costumes for Signature Theatre Company's revival of Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. The story of the titular character, a Depression-era black maid turned Hollywood actress who dreams of saying more than "yes'm," the satire skips from the '30s to the '70s to the 2000s, and Ayite's pitch-perfect period pieces help ground each era. Thematically, the show is about image versus authenticity, as the characters perform who they think they're supposed to be, both onscreen and off. Ayite's tailored designs unearth the truth behind who they really are.
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I have started to notice a lot more subtext in costumes ever since Natalia talked about her costuming for Dark Play or Stories for Boys. Working on that show for run crew gave me the opportunity to really understand the characters over an extended period of time, and this helped me a lot to start connecting the dots between their costumes and them as people. I think it is so awesome that the costume designer in this article, Dede Ayite, has a background in behavioral neuroscience, especially since she applies it to her costume designs. That takes their meaning to another level, and makes me incredibly intrigued by what kinds of subtle things she may be bringing out of her characters. Ayite’s design methods very much speak to the level of understanding a designer must have of the human race and the world around us. In order to represent characters justly, there has to be that kind of understanding.
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