About

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nya knew that she wanted to be on stage from the young age of 10. In her fourth grade religion class, and during vocation week in which students were encouraged to consider a life in the church, she proudly proclaimed that she wanted to be an actress. 

In 2018, she had the opportunity to begin training during her time in high school at The Willow School with teachers AJ Allegra and Beau Bratcher. As a student of the Certificate of Artistry in Musical Theatre program, she completed coursework which included the  study of vocal music, acting technique, and dance for over 300 hours across the disciplines, and she worked on 7 shows in 4 years. It was also there that she created her first original piece, which she was then able to direct and produce for an audience. In 2019, she traveled with the school to perform an ensemble piece titled "Bang, Bang, You're Dead" at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland 

Upon graduating from Willow in 2022, she began working toward her Bachelor of Art in Theatre Performance at Tulane University. There, she was able to work on 6 pieces of work which included devising original pieces, heightened text, Shakespeare, and a world in which The Simpsons is one of the sole pieces of media to survive a nuclear apocalypse. She is a two-time recipient of the Garic K. Barranger Award for Best Actor(s) in a Supporting Role by the Tulane University Department of Theatre and Dance for her roles as Zuzu in Dance Nation (2023) and Issobel Gowdie in Prick (2025). In the Summer of 2025, she revised her role as Issobel at the 2025 Freedom and Focus Fitzmaurice Voicework Conference in Wellington, New Zealand. 

After taking African-American Theatre History with Dr. John "Ray" Proctor and associate producing and directing a play-reading series on campus centered around Black female stories with Amy Chaffee, she developed a deep interest in the role that theatre plays in social justice spaces. She will graduate in May 2026.