Connectivity and Engagement Manager

Madelyn Porter is Connectivity and Engagement Manager for Detroit Public Theatre (DPT). She has worked as a professional actor for the past 45 years and is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. She most recently performed in A Host of People – SHINING CITIES, Plowshares Theatre Company’s – A HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND, BAMBILAND – DPT Artist in Residence (TAG Program ) staged reading, and was winner of the Wilde Award for Best Actress in a lead role in Detroit Repertory Theatre’s GEM OF THE OCEAN and Flint Repertory Theatre’s WRONG RIVER where she is an Artist Associate.

Porter received an Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship Award from the city of Detroit – 2024, a Recognition in the Arts Award from First Congregational Church of Detroit – 2023, and recipient of the 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit – Creative Non-Fiction – Literary Arts Award, YWCA Women of Achievement in the Arts Award, National Organization of Women – Special Achievement Award in the Arts, and Founder of Mad’s World, LLC and Street Life Theatre Company.

Porter leads a Drama Workshop at the Hannan Center. She has worked as Hamtramck Public School District – Program Director of Cultural Awareness Through the Arts, InsideOut – Writer in Residence, Youth Arts Alliance Theatre Workshop Coordinator and Michigan Opera Theatre’s Spokenword artist – Footsteps to Freedom touring company. She also was Director of MOT’s Create & Perform Summer Youth Program for many years.

Porter performs historical reenactments and StoryLiving at the Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Institute of the Arts, The Henry Ford/Greenfield Village, Troy Historical Village, and provides Cultural Awareness through the Arts programming for school districts, and organizations throughout the city of Detroit. Porter also performs a national tour of Sojourner Truth and writes and creates stories on commission. Quality theatre by any means necessary is her motto.