Dede Ayite is a Ghanaian-American costume designer. She won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play for her work on Jaja's African Hair Braiding, and has received 5 other Tony nominations for costume design. She is best known for her work costuming the Broadway productions of Buena Vista Social Club, Slave Play, A Soldier's Play, Hell's Kitchen, and Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Early life and education Ayite grew up in Ghana in West Africa. In 2001, she moved to live with her mother in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she finished high school.

Interested in pursuing her dual interests in science and the arts, Ayite attended Lehigh University, where she studied theater and behavioral neuroscience. After graduating in 2007, Ayite apprenticed at Lehigh for a year managing their scene shop. After, she apprenticed at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. She studied scenic design at the Yale School of Drama, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.

Career In 2020, Ayite designed costumes for Slave Play and A Soldier's Play, receiving her first two Tony nominations for costume design. For A Soldier's Play, Ayite carefully crafted dog tags for each character with their name, age, and religious affiliation, giving the actors something to hold as they got into character. Later that year, while live theater was on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ayite formed Design Action with fellow designers. Design Action worked to address racism in the theater community and support incoming designers of color.

In 2022, Ayite earned a special Drama Desk Award for having "costumed half the actors of this theatre season with her designs for “Merry Wives,” “Seven Deadly Sins,” “The Last of the Love Letters,” “Chicken and Biscuits,” “Slave Play,” “Nollywood Dreams,” “American Buffalo,” and “How I Learned to Drive,” demonstrating a knack for conveying characters' means, values, and aspirations before the actors utter a word."

In 2023, she designed costumes for the Off-Broadway and later Broadway productions of Buena Vista Social Club, earning a Tony nomination for the latter. The following year, she designed the costumes for Alicia Keys' jukebox musical Hells Kitchen, drawing inspiration from 90's street fashion. This also earned her a Tony nomination. She won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play for her work on Jaja's African Hair Braiding. This made her the first Black woman to win a Tony Award in this category.

In 2025, she designed costumes for Broadway's Othello starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. Her work was praised for its modernized depiction of a historic play and for its well-researched military accuracy.

Theatre credits

Broadway Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill (2014) - Assistant Costume Design The Gin Game (2015) - Associate Costume Design In Transit (2016) - Associate Costume Design Children of a Lesser God (2018) - Costume Design American Son (2018) - Costume Design Slave Play (2019, 2021) - Costume Design A Soldier's Play (2019) - Costume Design Chicken & Biscuits (2021) - Costume Design American Buffalo (2022) - Costume Design How I Learned to Drive (2022) - Costume Design Topdog/Underdog (2022) - Costume Design Ohio State Murders (2022) - Costume Design Jaja's African Hair Braiding (2023) - Costume Design Appropriate (2023) - Costume Design Days of Wine and Roses (2024) - Costume Design Hell's Kitchen (2024) - Costume Design Home (2024) Costume Design Our Town (2024) - Costume Design Purpose (2025) - Costume Design Buena Vista Social Club (2025) - Costume Design Othello (2025) - Costume Design The Last Five Years (2025) - Costume Design Proof (2026) - Costume Design

Select Off-Broadway and Regional Ugly Lies the Bone (2015, Roundabout) The Last Tiger in Haiti (2016, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep) Bella: An American Tall Tale (2017, Playwrights Horizon) BLKS (2017, Steppenwolf) Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (2017, Signature) Slave Play (2018, NYTW) School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (2018, MCC) Secret Life of Bees (2019, Atlantic) By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (2019, Signature)

Awards

Outer Critics Circle Awards YearCategoryNominated workResultRef.2023Outstanding Costume DesignTopdog/Underdog2024Jaja's African Hair Braiding2026Goddess

Drama Desk Awards YearCategoryNominated workResultRef.2018Costume Design of a MusicalBella: An American Tall TaleOutstanding Costume Design of a PlaySchool Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play2019By the Way, Meet Vera StarkIf Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka2024Outstanding Costume Design of a MusicalBuena Vista Social Club2025Outstanding Costume Design of a PlayOur Town

Lucille Lortel Awards YearCategoryNominated workResultRef.2018Outstanding Costume DesignSchool Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls PlayBella: An American Tall Tale2019By the Way, Meet Vera Stark2020BLKS2024Buena Vista Social Club

Tony Awards YearCategoryNominated workResultRef.2020Best Costume Design in a PlaySlave PlayA Soldier's Play2024Jaja's African Hair BradingAppropriateBest Costume Design in a MusicalHell's Kitchen2025Buena Vista Social Club

References