Ansa Akyea (pronounced Ahn-ssa A-Tchay-Ya) (he/him/his) is an award-winning professional AEA actor, director, collaborator and acting teacher. Akyea’s work focuses on new work and centers collaboration as a catalyst. Some of his directing credits include Lynn Nottage's "M'lima's Tale" with Ten Thousand Things Theater in Minnesota and "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, as well as John Steptoe’s "Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters" at Park Square Theater, "Junk" by Ayad Akhtar, and his adaptation of the Greek tragedy "Medea" that he also directed at the University of Minnesota, among others. Akyea’s national acting body of work spans stage, screen and radio. He has worked at the Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things, the Barrington Stage Company, the Black Ensemble Theater and the Illinois Theater Center, among others. Akyea serves as a board member with the Minnesota-based Playwright Center. He is also a 2023-2024 National New Play Producer in residence at Mixed Blood Theatre, where he helped produce "The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington" by James Ijames. Along with his work as an artist, Akyea also works as the lead facilitator and coach with the Woke Coach LLC. He holds two master's degrees from the University of Iowa.
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