Efua Theodora Sutherland (born 27 June 1924 – 2 January 1996)[1] was a Ghanaian playwright, director, dramatist, children's author, poet, educationalist, researcher, child advocate, and cultural activist.

[8] As Ghana's earliest playwright-director,[9] she was an influential figure in the development of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to introduce the study of African performance traditions at university level.

Her plays were often based on traditional stories, but also borrowed from Western literature, transforming African folktale conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques.

[30] Many of her poems and other writings were broadcast on The Singing Net, a popular radio programme started by Henry Swanzy,[31][32] and were subsequently published in his 1958 anthology Voices of Ghana.

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.

[18][30][34] 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.

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.

[37] In 1980, Sutherland 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".

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.

[38] Florence Laast, founder of Accra's St Martin de Porres School, speaking of how her own life had been impacted by Sutherland's mentorship, described her as "one of the greatest thinkers of our time" who believed that "the home is our first classroom, and our parents the first teachers".

Her plays were often based on traditional stories, but also borrowed from Western literature, transforming African folktale conventions into modern dramatic theatre techniques.

[30] Many of her poems and other writings were broadcast on The Singing Net, a popular radio programme started by Henry Swanzy,[31][32] and were subsequently published in his 1958 anthology Voices of Ghana.

[6] 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.

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.

[47][48] In March 2024, the estate of Efua Sutherland launched a centenary celebration of her life and legacy in Accra, unveiling plans to commemorate the year in which she would have turned 100.