Efua Sutherland
Efua Sutherland was a prominent Ghanaian playwright, educator, and advocate for the arts, born on June 27, 1924, in Cape Coast, Ghana. Raised in a challenging environment after the loss of her mother, she pursued her education with determination, earning degrees from St. Monica's Training College and Homerton College at the University of Cambridge. Sutherland's contributions to Ghanaian theater began with the founding of the Experimental Theatre Players in 1958, which later became part of the University of Ghana's Institute of African Studies. Her work often draws on traditional African folklore, integrating music and dance, while addressing significant social issues such as women's status and community unity.
In addition to her dramatic works, she authored children's books and championed bilingual education, reflecting her commitment to preserving native Ghanaian languages. Sutherland was involved in various civic initiatives, including the National Council for Women and Development, and held advisory roles in the Ghanaian government. Her legacy includes several awards acknowledging her impact on the arts and education, and she was honored with an honorary doctorate from the University of Ghana in 1991. Efua Sutherland passed away on January 22, 1996, leaving behind a rich cultural and educational legacy.
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Subject Terms
Efua Sutherland
Playwright
- Born: June 27, 1924
- Birthplace: Cape Coast, Ghana
- Died: January 22, 1996
- Place of death: Ghana
Biography
Eufa Theodora Morgue was born June 27, 1924, in Cape Coast, Ghana, then the British colony of the Gold Coast. Her mother, Olivia Morgue, was killed in a traffic accident at eighteen, and Eufa was raised by her father, Harry Peter Morgue, an English teacher, and grandmother, Arba Mansah. After graduating from St. Monica’s Training College in Ashanti, she received a B.A. in education from Homerton College at the University of Cambridge. She also attended the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and the University of Cape Coast. She worked as a teacher in Takoradi, Ghana, from 1951 to 1954, when she married William Sutherland, an educator from Orange, New Jersey. The couple, who had three children, founded a school at Tsito in northern Ghana’s Trans-Volta Region.
Sutherland began publishing poetry in 1957 but soon turned her attention to the theater. The most notable pioneer in Ghanaian drama, Sutherland was the founding director of the Experimental Theatre Players, now the Ghana Drama Studio in Accra, which was established in 1958 using funds from the Arts Council of Ghana and the Rockefeller Foundation. The studio became part of the University of Ghana’s Institute of African Studies in 1963, and Sutherland was granted a long-term research position there. She also founded the Ghana Society of Writers, now the University of Ghana Writers Workshop in Legon, and Kusum Agoromba, a touring children’s theater group, at the University of Ghana School of Drama.
Sutherland’s plays are often inspired by traditional African folklore and incorporate music, dance, and spectator response. As a result, many have not been available in print. Her three major plays, Edufa (pr. 1962), Foriwa (pr. 1962), and The Marriage of Anansewa: A Storytelling Drama (pr. 1971), address such topics as the status of women, community development, and the need for national unity transcending ethnic, gender, and ideological differences. Sutherland has also written children’s books in both English and Akan.
Fearing that native Ghanaian languages would be lost, Sutherland supported bilingual education for all elementary and secondary students and was involved in the creation of libraries in both urban centers and villages. She was a founder of the National Council for Women and Development, an advisor to Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings, a consultant to the Du Bois Centre for African Culture, and served two terms on the National Commission on Children. Sutherland was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Ghana in 1991, received the Noble Patron of the Arts Award from the Ghana Association of Writers, also in 1991, and won the Flag Star Award of the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana in 1995. She died on January 22, 1996, after a lengthy illness.