Efua Theodora Sutherland (born 27 June 1924 – 2 January 1996) was a Ghanaian playwright, director, dramatist, children's author, poet, educationalist, researcher, child advocate, and cultural activist. Her works include the plays ''Foriwa'' (1962), ''Edufa'' (1967), and ''The Marriage of Anansewa'' (1975). She founded the Ghana Drama Studio, the Ghana Society of Writers, the Ghana Experimental Theatre, and a community project called the Kodzidan (Story House). As the earliest Ghanaian playwright-director she was an influential figure in the development of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to introduce the study of African

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

traditions at the university level. She was also a pioneering African publisher, establishing the company Afram Publications in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

in the 1970s. She was a cultural advocate for children from the early 1950s until her death, and played a role in developing educational curricula, literature, theatre and film for and about Ghanaian children. Her 1960 photo essay ''Playtime in Africa'', co-authored with Willis E. Bell, highlighted the centrality of play in children's development and was followed in the 1980s by her leadership in the development of a model public children's parks system for the country. Sutherland's pan-Africanism was reflected in her support for its principles and her collaborations with African and African diaspora personalities in a range of disciplines, including interactions with Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo,

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

and Shirley Graham Du Bois,

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

Tom Feelings Tom Feelings (May 19, 1933 – August 25, 2003) was an artist, cartoonist, children's book illustrator, author, teacher, and activist. He focused on the African-American experience in his work. His most famous book is ''The Middle Passage: Whit ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

, Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King, Femi Osofisan,

Félix Morisseau-Leroy Félix Morisseau-Leroy (13 March 1912 – 5 September 1998), was a Haitian writer who used Haitian Creole to write poetry and plays, the first significant writer to do so. By 1961 he succeeded in having Creole recognized as an official languag ...

, Es'kia Mphahlele, Wole Soyinka and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Having in 1980 written an original proposal for a pan-African historical theatre festival in Ghana as a cultural vehicle for bringing together Africans around the globe, Sutherland was the inspiration behind the biennial Pan-African festival of theatre arts known as

PANAFEST The Pan African Historical Theatre Project now known as PANAFEST is a cultural event held in Ghana every two years for Africans and people of African descent. It was first held in 1992. The idea of this festival is to promote and enhance unity, Pan ...

, first held in 1992."History"
Panafest website. Efua Sutherland died in Accra aged 71 in 1996.

Education and early Career

She was born as Efua Theodora Morgue in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city, fishing port, and the capital of Cape Coast Metropolitan District and Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the country's most historic cities, a World Heritage Site, home to the Cape Coast Castle, with the Gulf of Guinea ...

, Gold Coast (now Ghana), where she studied teaching at St Monica's Training College in Mampong."Sutherland, Efua (1924–1996)"
''Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Encyclopedia.com. She then went to England to continue her education, earning a BA degree at Homerton College, Cambridge University — one of the first African women to study there — and studying linguistics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.Busby, Margaret, "Efua Sutherland: Reaching out to young Africa" (Obituary), ''The Guardian'', 27 January 1996. Returning to Ghana in 1951, she taught first at

Fijai Secondary School Fijai Senior High School, formerly Fijai Secondary School, is a co-educational senior high school located in the Western Region of Ghana. The name Fijai is from the native dialect "Afei Gyae Me", which literally means "Now, leave me alone". H ...

at Sekondi, then at St. Monica's School (1951–54), and also began writing for children. She would later say: "I started writing seriously in 1951. I can even remember the precise time. It was at Easter. I had been thinking about the problem of literature in my country for a very long time. I was on teaching practice with my students once in a village and I got positively angry about the kind of literature that the children were being forced into. It had nothing to do with their environment, their social circumstances or anything. And so I started writing." In 1954 she married Bill Sutherland, an African American and Pan-Africanist who in 1953 had moved to Ghana (they had three children: educationalist Esi Sutherland-Addy, architect Ralph Sutherland, and lawyer Amowi Sutherland Phillips), and she helped her husband in the establishment of a school in the Transvolta area.

Literary production

When the Gold Coast became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957, Efua Sutherland organised the Ghana Society of Writers (later the Ghana Association of Writers), which in 1960 brought out the first issue of the literary magazine '' Okyeame'', of which she eventually became editor.Gibbs, James
"Efua Sutherland: The 'Mother' of the Ghanaian Theatre"
in ''Nkyin-kyin: Essays on the Ghanaian Theatre'' (Cross/Cultures 98), Rodopi, 2009, p. 101. Sutherland experimented creatively with storytelling and other dramatic forms from indigenous Ghanaian traditions. Her plays were often based on traditional stories, but also borrowed from

Western literature Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...

, transforming African folktale conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques. Many of her poems and other writings were broadcast on ''The Singing Net'', a popular radio programme started by

Henry Swanzy Henry Swanzy (14 June 1915 – 19 March 2004) was an Anglo-Irish radio producer in Britain's BBC General Overseas Service who is best known for his role in promoting West Indian literature particularly through the programme ''Caribbean Voices'' ...

,"Efua Sutherland"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''.Akidiva, Arbogast Kemoli
"Radio and Literature in Africa: Lee Nichols' Conversations with African Writers"
p. 229. University of Alberta dissertation, Spring 1997. and were subsequently published in his 1958 anthology ''

Voices of Ghana ''Voices of Ghana: Literary Contributions to the Ghana Broadcasting System 1955–57'' was "the first Ghanaian literary anthology of poems, stories, plays and essays". Edited by Henry Swanzy and published in 1958 by the Ghanaian Ministry of Infor ...

''. The 1960 first issue of ''Okyeame'' magazine contains her short story "Samantaase", a retelling of a folktale. Her best known plays are ''Edufa'' (1967) (based on '' Alcestis'' by Euripides), ''Foriwa'' (1967), and ''The Marriage of Anansewa'' (1975). In 1958, Sutherland founded the Ghana Experimental Theatre, which was based at the Ghana Drama Studio built by Sutherland and launched by President

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

in 1963 with

Joe de Graft Joseph Coleman de Graft (2 April 1924 – 1 November 1978) was a prominent Ghanaian writer, playwright and dramatist, who was appointed the first director of the Ghana Drama Studio in 1962. He produced and directed plays for radio, stage and telev ...

as its first director. Sited in downtown Accra, the Drama Studio became a training ground for a range of theatre practitioners from all over Africa. In 1962, she joined the staff of the new School of Music and Drama, headed by

J. H. Kwabena Nketia Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (22 June 1921 – 13 March 2019) was a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer. Considered Africa's premier musicologist, during his lifetime, he was called a "living legend" and "easily the most published and best ...

. In 1963, when Sutherland took on the role of Research Associate at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, she brought along with her the Ghana Drama Studio, which became an off-campus training space, called the University of Ghana Drama Studio. Sutherland, in addition to her field research and teaching in African Dramatic Forms, was a core member of the team that conceptualised and established the School of Performing Arts. Also concerned with traditional storytelling and developing community theatre, she founded the Kodzidan (Story House) in Ekumfi-Atwia, Central Region, which was recognised worldwide as a pioneering model in theatre for development. Sutherland mentored and was in turn inspired by many of Ghana's accomplished writers, including Ama Ata Aidoo, Kofi Anyidoho and Meshack Asare. In the early 1970s, Sutherland co-founded the publishing company Afram Publications, which was incorporated in 1973, and in March 1974 began operating from her private studio in "Araba Mansa", her compound at Dzorwulu, Accra. Sutherland remained involved in Afram's editorial work until her death.

Cultural activism and pan-Africanism

Sutherland's work attracted the attention of creatives from the global African world. Maya Angelou's fifth volume of memoirs '' All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes'' testifies to the emotional support and entrée into Ghanaian society afforded her in the 1960s by Efua Sutherland who became a close friend. Sutherland had met Dr W. E. B. Du Bois when she led the Ghana delegation to the 1958 Afro-Asian Writers Conference in Tashkent (now the capital of Uzbekistan). She was to personally intervene, at his death in Accra, Ghana in 1963, to support Mrs Shirley Du Bois. In the 1980s Sutherland was instrumental in establishing the W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture and mausoleum at the Du Bois' Accra home. In 1980 she wrote a paper entitled "Proposal for a Historical Drama Festival in Cape Coast", underscoring the significance she attached to connections between Africa and its Diaspora. This inspired the venture that came to fruition as the state-sponsored PANAFEST, the first Pan-African Historical Theater Festival, which was held in Cape Coast, Elmina and Accra, Ghana, from 12 to 19 December 1992 under the theme "The Re-emergence of African Civilization".

Advocacy for children

Sutherland presided over Ghana's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (the first country to do so) and chaired the National Commission on Children from 1983 to 1990, a period that marked the most vigorous and comprehensive child advocacy on a national scale in the history of Ghana. In this capacity, she steered a number of innovative programmes, including a Child Education Fund to support underserved communities, the Mobile Technical Workshop extending science learning to poor or rural children, and the securing of land to seed model child-centred park and library complexes around the country. She laid the groundwork for the Mmofra Foundation, active since 1997 as a civic organisation dedicated to enriching the cultural and intellectual lives of all children in Ghana."About"
Mmofra Foundation. In 2012 the ''Playtime in Africa Initiative'', inspired by her eponymous 1961 book, was launched to revitalise child-friendly public space advocacy. Her final most significant work at the Institute of African Studies, Legon, was her Children's Drama Development Project, which was aimed at developing materials, methods and staff for programmes of creative dramatics in and out of school. Sutherland was invited by UNICEF to join a worldwide network of scholars to consider a code of human rights for the protection of children.

Legacy

* Following the 1992 construction of the National Theatre of Ghana on the site occupied by the Drama Studio, a replica of the Studio was constructed on the campus of the University of Ghana as part of the facilities of the School of Performing Arts. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the university, the Studio was renamed the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio. Efua Sutherland Children Park

* A 12-acre space in central Accra reserved as a children's park in central Accra through the advocacy of Efua Sutherland and it is named after her."Founder"
Mmofra Foundation. * Efua Sutherlandstraat is one of a number of streets in an area of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, named after significant women writers and activists. * Active since 1997, Mmofra Foundation was established by Efua Sutherland in her final years and is dedicated to enriching the cultural and intellectual lives of all children in Ghana. For over 20 years, thousands of children have benefited from its literary, nature-sensitive and creativity-oriented programmes. * A green cultural space/park called Mmofra Place in the Dzorwulu area of Accra is open to children of all backgrounds, thanks to the estate of Efua T. Sutherland. * Efua Sutherland Hall is a student hall of residence at Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana. * ''The Legacy of Efua Sutherland: Pan African Cultural Activism'', a volume in her honour was published in 2007, edited by Anne V. Adams and Esi Sutherland-Addy. Contributors are: Anne Adams, Esi Sutherland-Addy, Ama Ata Aidoo,

, Kofi Anyidoho, Sandy Arkhurst, William Branch,

John Collins John Collins may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Collins (poet) (1742–1808), English orator, singer, and poet * John Churton Collins (1848–1908), English literary critic * John H. Collins (director) (1889–1918), American director an ...

, David Donkor, James Gibbs, Comfort Caulley-Hanson, Biodun Jeyifo, Robert July, Mabel Komasi, Florence Laast, John Lemly, Jurgen Martini, Michael McMullan,

Penina Mlama Penina Muhando, also known as Penina Mlama (born 1948), is a Tanzanian Kiswahili playwright, a theorist and practitioner of theatre for development, Theatre for Development in Tanzania. Life and literary career Muhando was born in Berega, Morogo ...

, Femi Osofisan, Sandra Richards, Amowi Sutherland Phillips, Ola Rotimi, Margaret Watts, Henry Wellington, and Vivian Windley. * Writer, poet, lecturer and diplomat Abena P. A. Busia devoted a chapter to Efua Sutherland ("To the Roadmaker: Fragments of a Meditation") in her volume of poems ''Traces of a Life: A Collection of Elegies and Praise Poems'' (Ayebia Clarke Publishing, 2008). * Sutherland was honoured with a Google Doodle on 27 June 2018, which would have been her 94th birthday.

Works briefly annotated

Sutherland experimented creatively with storytelling and other dramatic forms from indigenous Ghanaian traditions. Her plays were often based on traditional stories, but also borrowed from

, transforming African folktale conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques. Many of her poems and other writings were broadcast on ''The Singing Net'', a popular radio programme started by

, and were subsequently published in his 1958 anthology ''

''. The 1960 first issue of '' Okyeame'' magazine contains her short story "Samantaase", a retelling of a folktale. Her best known plays are ''Edufa'' (1967) (based on '' Alcestis'' by Euripides), ''Foriwa'' (1967), and ''The Marriage of Anansewa'' (1975). In ''Edufa'' the eponymous character seeks to escape death by manipulating his wife, Ampoma, to the death that has been predicted for him by

oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

s. In the play, Sutherland uses traditional Ghanaian beliefs in

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

and the interaction of traditional and European ceremonies in order to portray Edufa as a rich and successful modern person who is held in high esteem by his people. The play uses traditional ritual and symbolism, but the story is told in the context of Edufa's capitalistic abandonment of his moral commitment to his wife, while his wife and the other women favour the morality of the past. In ''Foriwa'' the eponymous character, who is the daughter of the queen mother of Kyerefaso, and Labaran, a graduate from northern Ghana who lives a simple life, bring enlightenment to Kyerefaso, a town that has become backward and ignorant because the town's elders refuse to learn new ways. ''Foriwa's'' main theme is the alliance of old traditions and new ways. The play has a national theme to promote a new national spirit in Ghana that would encourage openness to new ideas and inter-ethnic cooperation. ''The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama'' (1975) is considered Sutherland's most valuable contribution to Ghanaian drama and theater. In the play, she transmutes traditional Akan Ananse Spider tales (''Anansesem'') into a new dramatic structure, which she calls ''Anansegoro''. ''Nyamekye'' (a version of ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

''), one of her later plays, shows how she was influenced by the folk opera tradition. Sutherland was also an author of works for children. These works included two animated rhythm plays, ''Vulture! Vulture!'' and ''Tahinta'' (1968), and two pictorial essays, with photographs by Willis Bell (1924–2000): ''Playtime in Africa'' (1960) and ''The Roadmakers'' (1961). Many of her short stories can be described as rhythmic prose poems. ''Voice in the Forest'', a book of the folklore and fairytales of Ghana, was published in 1983. ''Playtime in Africa'' has been described "a groundbreaking book on Ghana's play culture", which Sutherland considered important for in developing young minds and bodies."Imagining a Better Future – Playtime in Africa"
PlayGroundology, 30 April 2012. Not only was it published three years after Ghana's independence it was the first documentation of children's play culture in Ghana. The book presented the nuances of children's lives to forefront of society and it also ushered in an indigenous movement in writing for children, along with publishing and development through drama for children. A ''Voice in the Forest'' is a text that powerfully portrays the political, economic, and social complexity of colonialism and cultural relativism in Ghana in regards to children. The text is a retelling of an Akan folktale and deals with traditional cultural values through the role of the trickster figure. It tells the story of a man named Bempong who unknowingly discovers a Samanta, a wood nymph, and brings her back to his village. Initially Bempong believes the Samanta is a lost girl, wandering alone through the forest. For the first half of the story the Samanta refuses to speak. It is not until Bempong cuts off her hair, in an effort to tame her outgrown hair, that Bempong realizes this girl is a Samanta, a wood nymph—"a creature of strange magical powers". Finding her voice in a moment of anger, the Samanta curses the village, leaving them with no food until she has her hair back. The hero of the book is Afrum, Bempong's son, who is regarded as the village fool. Sutherland's choice to celebrate the fool is a part of a longer lineage of uses of the trickster figure in African literature.

Honours

In 2020, at an event marking

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

, Sutherland was honoured by

3Music Awards The 3 Music Award is Ghanaian music awards ceremony held annually since 2018 to celebrate Ghanaian music. It was established by the 3Music Network with Media General TV3 as broadcasters. The Multimedia group became the media right holder in th ...

for her achievements in the entertainment industry.

Selected bibliography

* with Willis E. Bell, ''The Roadmakers: a picture book of Ghana''(for children). Accra: Ghana Information Services / London: Newman Neame, 1961, 1963 * with Willis E. Bell, ''Playtime in Africa'' (for children), New York: Atheneum, 1962 * ''Edufa'' (play), Longman, 1967 * ''Foriwa: A Play in Three Acts'', Accra-Tema: State Publishing Corporation, 1967 * ''Tahinta'' (1968) * ''Vulture! Vulture! and Tahina: Two Rhythm Plays'', Tema: Ghana Publishing House, 1968 * ''Odasani'' (play), Accra: Anowuo Educational Publications, 1969 * with Willis Bell, ''The Original Bob: The Story of Bob Johnson, Ghana's Ace Comedian'' (play), Accra: Anowuo Educational Publications, 1970 * ''Anansegoro: Story-Telling Drama in Ghana'', Accra: Afram, 1975 * ''The Marriage of Anansewa'' (play), London: Longman, 1977, 1980; Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1980 * ''The Voice in the Forest: A Tale from Ghana'', Philomel Books, 1983

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Efua 1924 births 1996 deaths 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Ghanaian poets 20th-century Ghanaian women writers 20th-century Ghanaian writers Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge Alumni of SOAS University of London Book publishers (people) Ghanaian children's writers Ghanaian dramatists and playwrights Ghanaian expatriates in the United Kingdom Ghanaian feminists Ghanaian pan-Africanists Ghanaian publishers (people) Ghanaian women children's writers Ghanaian women poets Ghanaian women short story writers People from Cape Coast University of Ghana faculty Women dramatists and playwrights