Yaw Asare was a Ghanaian academic, playwright, dramatist and director.

Early life and education

Asare was born in 1954 at Nkonya-Tayi, a town in the

Oti Region The Oti Region is one of the six newly created regions of Ghana in December 2018. The region was carved out of the northern part of the Volta Region and will be in fulfillment of a campaign promise made by New Patriotic Party. Prior to the 2016 G ...

. He had his primary school and middle school education at

Nkonya Ahenkro Nkonya Ahenkro is a small town and is the capital of Biakoye district, a district in the Oti Region of Ghana. This name could be derived from African Brazilian or Haitian Brazilian due to slavery Geography Location Nkonya Ahenkro is bounded to ...

, and his secondary education at Nkonya Secondary School where he obtained his Ordinary-Level certificate in 1971. Asare continued at St. Francis Teachers' Training College, Hohoe where he was awarded the post secondary Teachers' Certificate A, and the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, where he obtained a Diploma in

Theatre Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

from the School of Performing Arts with Dance as a major subject. In 1982, Asare returned to the University of Ghana to pursue a bachelor's degree programme in English and Theatre Arts. He followed it up in 1990 by undertaking a Master Philosophy in African Studies, specialising in African Oral Performance Arts. He graduated in 1993.

Career

Following his teacher training at Hohoe, he taught for three years at Pedeku-Ada. After his completing his diploma programme from the University of Ghana, Asare resumed teaching for another three years at Agogo Teachers' Training College, and Nkonya Secondary School. From 1988 to 1989, Asare taught at the

School of Performing Arts and the

National Commission on Culture The National Commission on Culture is a Government of Ghana agency responsible for cultural matters. It is under the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts of Ghana is the government mi ...

. Later in 1994, Asare moved to the National Theater to work as the artistic director of the Abibigromma, a resident drama company. He returned to the University of Ghana in 1999 where he wrote for newspapers, radio, television, the stage and video. He founded Dawuro Africa, a campus based experimental theatre company. Asare was planning to further his studies by pursuing a doctorate degree that was going to make use of his research into folklore and popular performance, and connect it with the productions he was putting on. He was due to leave for the United States of America on 18 August 2002 to begin his doctoral research at

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

on a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Death

Asare's untimely passing occurred on 1 August 2002 after battling an illness. He died at the age of forty-eight (48).

Works

* ''King Kokroko'', (1994) * ''Bride of the Gods'', (1996) * ''The Choice'', (1996) * ''Ananse and the Price of Greed'', (TV 1996) * ''Ananse in the Land of Idiots,'' (unpublished)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asare, Yaw University of Ghana alumni Ghanaian dramatists and playwrights Ewe people Academic staff of the University of Ghana 1954 births 2002 deaths