Madelyn Porter: The Art of Storytelling, Connection, and Finding Your Voice

Rodney Veal (00:00):

Hello everyone. Welcome to Rodneys Ins Veal’s pired by. I’m Rodneyville, the host of this podcast. And I have to say, I always get the great pleasure of hanging out in spaces and meeting people and connecting with artists. And I connected with this fabulous human being at a dinner party. And I fell in love and it has been a… I just have been anticipating this conversation. You’re going to get to have your ears and your eyes on the two of us having a conversation about her fantastic journey in life, her philosophy and creativity and just all of her talent and genius that she is using and utilizing in Detroit, but is bringing a little bit over here to Dayton as well, which I’m super excited about. And I just think she’s a producer, director, actor, mover, shaker, all the things. And a fabulous dinner party guest, by the way.

(01:07):

So without further ado, the fantastic Madeline Porter.

Madelyn Porter (01:13):

Hello. Hey, Rodney. I met Rodney and I fell in love. But I fell in love with you, Rodney. Your energy, your connection with not just the arts, but with a human being. His aura, his whole vibe is yummy. Very yummy.

Rodney Veal(01:39):

And

Madelyn Porter (01:39):

As an artist, it just colors my world even more.

Rodney Veal (01:43):

Well, I’m just saying it’s same here. I love that word yummy. I’m going to be using it a lot. Be forewarned people, you’re going to hear me saying yummy and I’m going to say, I got it from Adeline. That’s right. But it’s yummy. And so I just need to start from the beginning. I mean, I love the fact that family is always important. And we talked a bit about that. Family’s important to me and I know family’s important to you, but you have the most beautiful family and family story. And we got to go to the beginning. You are surrounded by creativity and people who were about excellence and humanity. So tell your childhood story. Come on.

Madelyn Porter(02:27):

Okay. Let me go back a little bit. Well, my mother and father were just like this world of fascinating, I don’t know, culture, just pride. My father was a jazz musician who held from Louisiana. He played with many of the jazz greats, Coltrane, Goodman. I mean, every genre and aura, he was a composer, he was a musician. And as an artist, as a writer, as a performer, as a instructor, I hear music. It’s in my DNA. I don’t play it. I don’t sing it. I feel it. And when I do anything that I do, any piece that I, even when I’m in a classroom with students, I hear music. I hear Ellington.

(03:20):

I hear anyone, Cab, Callaway, because that’s the era that he came from and his juice is in me. My mother, an educator, farm girl, but a very sophisticated farm girl came from a very big farm in Georgia, hell from Georgia. And she loved the arts. She taught science. She taught math. She taught history. I mean, she was just like this very refined sister from Lee County, Georgia. And very culturally, very in tune and very in touch. And her father was something else too, but my father and my mother formed this beautiful, this blend. And hello, they made me and my other five siblings. And

(04:25):

Always very politically in touch, in tune, civil rights movement, always taught what wasn’t taught to me in school was taught to me in my school at home. And we were always taught our history and our background and who we are and where we came from and how important it was. And my father had 17 brothers and sisters, same mama, same daddy. And my grandmother on my father’s side looked very Caucasian and she could very much so pass. And her history, like many of our black folks in this country, we are just so multifaceted in our backgrounds. And so I learned a long time ago how to blend all that diversification and how all the wildness in the world that was going on, how I fit in and how it was important for everyone to fit in. And my job as an artist to make sure that my culture as a black woman, as a multifaceted Bohemian sister, all of that, the juices and flavors because God made us all.

(05:38):

And I always remember that as an artist and as a person. And so I love my family for making that plain and clear to me. And so I am a storyteller. I tell real stories and as a kid, I used to make them up.

(06:00):

That’s what you

Rodney Veal (06:00):

Said. You told me that.

Madelyn Porter(06:02):

I did. My mother was my teacher. I went through the parochial school system. Father being from Louisiana was a staunch Catholic, but a whole different phase of Catholicism. I don’t know you know how to explain it, but he explained it so well because we were taught… My mother appreciated the Catholic school system only because the public schools were so, that’s the best way I could put it. And not that many of them, and she felt the small classroom sizes, it just fit the mold. And then she just pleased my daddy because she was… And then she converted to Catholicism, but she always kept our world open and made it plain to us and that we were free to practice whatever religion, faith, denomination we chose, which is why as a kid when she’d send me down the street, she’d get us up and send us out and say, “Okay, go to church.

(07:05):

You got to go down the street when we moved to Detroit.” And that’s another story. I used to stop at every storefront church along the way because I felt it was the most enriching. I heard the yeah, the moans and I saw the sisters dressed up like nurses. I’d walk into, if I could find one, a mosque, I would go anywhere I could because I wanted to fear it all.

Rodney Veal(07:31):

You wanted to go. You wanted information. Absolutely.

Madelyn Porter(07:35):

And I would stop in those storefront churches and praise. Don’t let them get the Holy Ghost. And that was my precursor to many characters

Rodney Veal (07:50):

That

Madelyn Porter (07:51):

I would create. And so it was wonderful. So that’s a little bit, I mean, my background goes on and on and on, but that’s my family, my parenting.

Rodney Veal(08:06):

And that’s what I loved about it. When you were telling us at dinner at Richard and Carol’s and that spoke to me because when parents create an environment, they set the stage for us to just take off. And that’s why I was like, oh, I fell in love with her. I’m in love with Madeline because I get it because my parents did the same thing. There was this whole notion of let’s just create this open space for you to just soar and to be. I’m kind of curious, because you’re taking all these stories, you’ve seen the world. Detroit is an incredible city. It will inspire you.

Madelyn Porter (08:49):

Yes.

Rodney Veal(08:50):

The energy. There’s an energy there that’s

Madelyn Porter (08:53):

So different. I love Detroit. I was born in Boston, but I came to Detroit in elementary school and my mother just thought she would just seek out any arts hub anywhere. And so as a kid, she would take us, I was in carousel, any musical in the community at the community center, she’d send us, take us to ballets, take us to here, take us to there, take us to jail. Hudson’s up on the 12th floor for the Christmas whole thing so we could see all that equity characters. And my mother really loved the art. She loved classical music. In fact, my brother plays classical music, pianist.

(09:35):

Detroit just was like this open, and then all kinds of things are going on politically. In my world in the South, my mother’s side, they were dealing with the whole civil rights movement and we had land in Georgia. So giving some of that land to Operation Breadbaskets so they could go. And then my hometown in Boston where my parents ended up moving to, that whole thing and then the whole cultural shock moving to Detroit with a Bostonian accent. And then I got here and I got Meshian and as I grew into it, now I have grown into the whole art scene. This is how I do on stage too. I’m very randomly beautifully seasoned, so hello. I have the honor and privilege of working with Detroit Public Theater. I am the connectivity and engagement manager for Detroit Public Theater.

Rodney Veal(10:31):

Perfect job for you. The perfect job, by the way. Oh

Madelyn Porter (10:34):

My God. It is the fastest growing, wonderful. And they created this job, this connectivity, because there was none. I was introduced to Detroit Public Theater season two, and this is season 12 we’re going into. So it’s fairly new for a theater company. And it is a world class, small professional theater in midtown Detroit. And we create works that, bold, relevant works that illuminate the thrills and joys and challenges of our shared human experiences. And that’s my mission as well, because I feel like you need to come to the theater. And as my card says, sit forward and make yourself uncomfortable because you are going to be introduced to a world that will bring you in, will make you laugh, will make you thought provoking, make you… For instance, our first production is Eureka Day, which was on Broadway. And it is a wildly relevant, bitingly funny production that what happens is it’s set in the elementary school where a month’s outbreak threatens the community’s progressive ideals.

(11:51):

And I mean, it is funny. It is thought provoking and you got to come if you’re in the Detroit area. So yeah, Detroit has so many, and there’s a few, it’s a small

Rodney Veal (12:02):

Theater

Madelyn Porter (12:03):

World, but it’s mighty. But

Rodney Veal (12:05):

It’s mighty.

Madelyn Porter (12:07):

Absolutely. Yeah.

Rodney Veal(12:08):

And that is the whole thing about a lot of people, the connective arts between Dayton and Detroit. Well, Dayton is called Little Detroit. And so part of that was because of the industries, but I argued the cultures are very similar.

Madelyn Porter(12:25):

Very

Rodney Veal (12:26):

Similar. Not the same. Similar.

Madelyn Porter (12:28):

Similar. For instance, I’m at Greenfield Village. I am a storyteller and I work at the Detroit Historical Museum as their resident storyteller. And I’m at Greenfield Village where we have the Wright Home, which we brought the right home to Greenfield Village. And so the connection with Dunbar, my mother was a Paul Dunbar. Oh my God, she could recite anything and everything. And she loved his classical variance. Anyway, that whole connection as a child, because I learned the Weaver and the Basque and my mother and I would do the thing and then the Wright Brothers home. So that connection at Greenfield Village, and I worked there as well as a presenter and storyteller. But I’d be remiss not to mention my connection with Dayton and the Front Street, that

Rodney Veal (13:24):

Whole… Oh

Madelyn Porter(13:25):

My God. Not to mention the creators and the holders of that space, Carol and Richard Lundin. I always say that couple. When I came to Dayton, and I was introduced by a reporter or a reviewer, I should say, for the Detroit Free Press,

Rodney Veal (13:49):

Who

Madelyn Porter(13:49):

Is a Daytonian, and you know him.

Rodney Veal (13:52):

Daunte Benningfield. I’m sorry. I love him so much. The connective threads.

Madelyn Porter (13:56):

And

Rodney Veal (13:57):

Caitlin,

Madelyn Porter (13:58):

His partner, oh my God, those two. And the artists that the connection, the Whitaker family, just the connections of the artists and the artists I’ve had the privilege of meeting. I perform Sojourner Truth all over. I’m a Kresge Arts in Detroit awardee fellow.

Rodney Veal(14:22):

Yes. And that’s no joke. Let me tell you, folks, Kresky, no joke.

Madelyn Porter (14:28):

Hey. Sojourner is one of the reasons I am a Kresky fellow. And I tour her all over. And I’m bringing Sojourner to Dayton. Yes, I know. I had the lovely pleasure of meeting Shola and her husband – James Bate. Oh my God.

Rodney Veal (14:48):

See folks.

Madelyn Porter (14:52):

And privileged to say, and I’m just announcing this beforehand, Shola and I are going to get together because I’m going to do Sojourner at the gallery.

Rodney Veal (15:02):

At Black Gallery.

Madelyn Porter(15:04):

Yes. Date to be determined.

Rodney Veal(15:08):

He’s on it. But that is the other part about the Detroit connection, what I’ve always felt, and I went to school in Eastern Michigan University, we hit it off. My friends from Detroit, we clicked. It was an instant click. We’re in, let’s go. Stuff would happen. It was like you just made things happen. And I just find that just very fascinating that it’s only folks, Detroit’s only, it’s less than four hours away.

Madelyn Porter (15:40):

That’s right.

Rodney Veal (15:41):

That’s right. It’s a straight shot. It’s such a straight shot. And you could be experiencing some of the most amazing art and all the art. I mean, theater, music, visual, you name it. Detroit’s got it. So does Dayton. So I welcome the cross pollination.

Madelyn Porter (16:02):

But that’s my new mission. That’s my new mission as a connection and engagement manager to connect and engage the Dayton and Detroit. That’s the D&D. That’s the DD. So that was my nickname, DD. And I thought I said, that’s the DD. So that connection, there’s so many strong connections, straight up 75 and veering off a little tad. So I’m just excited about the connection that I am so happy to make with Dayton through the arts and the visual arts, performing arts, which is what I do as well. But I do a lot of interdisciplinary arts programming and I am so excited to bring the visual. And I work at the DIA as well, the Detroit Institute of the

Rodney Veal (16:52):

Arts. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.

Madelyn Porter  (16:54):

And I create stories around the exhibit. I am so, all the beautiful artists I have met on Front Street in the community. And I am so… I went to the Co there in Dayton.

Rodney Veal (17:08):

Yes.

Madelyn Porter (17:09):

Yeah. I don’t know if they still have the quilt exhibit.

Rodney Veal (17:13):

Yeah, that’s the Dr. Carolyn Maslini folks. This is just exquisite. It’s up for a while. It probably won’t be up when this podcast airs, but I’m telling you, we’re doing a story on Dr. Masony. Oh my God. If

Madelyn Porter (17:29):

You

Rodney Veal (17:29):

Haven’t seen it, it’s worth… Yes. It

Madelyn Porter (17:33):

Is. And I stood there with Heather and I just created stories as I walked through the gallery. I did the stories and the images and the characters because I always do first person. I have immersed myself into the artwork and become a part of the artwork. I’ve done them in Flint with their whole mural. They did a whole thing on the mural. And so I have become the muralist. I’ve worked with several muralists in creating stories around murals and yummy, yum, yum.

Rodney Veal (18:08):

And that is the satisfying part. What I love is your enthusiasm from material. And I’m like, I mean, did you know you were going to be the storyteller? Was that the pathway? I mean, your parents set you up. Yeah.

Madelyn Porter (18:22):

They set me up big time.

Rodney Veal (18:23):

My brother decided he wanted to be a plumber, so what does that tell you? That’s

Madelyn Porter (18:30):

Right. And we need plumbers.

Rodney Veal (18:32):

We do. We do. I do too, in my old house.

Madelyn Porter (18:37):

Right now. And that is in art form. There’s an art form in everything, cooking and yum. I tell people that I window shop in refrigerators and people go to storefronts and look at clothes. I look at food.That’s another story. Anyway, so I appreciate the art in anything we do, in

Rodney Veal (18:59):

Everything

Madelyn Porter(19:00):

We do, because that’s important. The mail carrier, to me, just watching their gait as they go from door to door, delivering the mail, doing something that we still need. I mean, hey, it seems sometimes like it’s fading away, but no, it’s just beautiful. I find the beauty and the art history in every thing we do from a doctor to a… I’ve watched a dancing doctor on social media. I don’t know if you’ve seen him. No. He’s

Rodney Veal (19:36):

A surgeon

Madelyn Porter (19:37):

And he’s worked a lot, I guess, with cancer patients and those in hospice and just encouraging them. A lot of children he works in. And he just puts on his music and he just diagnoses and dances and they are the smile on their faces no matter what their condition. The arts brings so much joy because I love dance. I’ve worked with many dance choreographers and dancers. And here in Detroit, my good friend, Clifford Fears, who worked with Catherine Dunham, very in fact, danced with Catherine Dunham and Alvin Ailey as well. And so I was stage managing and designing lights for him for quite a few years. And he’d throw me on stage and say, “Okay, Madeline, now show him how to act and dance. Darrell put some face on it. Come on now.” I loved him because it’s that whole Dunham method.

Rodney Veal (20:43):

Which is how you and Shola really bonded and connected over the dancing part. Oh, that’s

Madelyn Porter (20:48):

Right, Shola.

Rodney Veal (20:49):

Yeah. And

Madelyn Porter (20:50):

Then from the dance company, is it that

Rodney Veal (20:55):

I met – Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Oh

Madelyn Porter (20:57):

Yeah, that’s where she is, right? Yes. Yes,

Rodney Veal (20:59):

Yes, yes, yes. She was with them. She was with them. So the interconnector threads, and that’s what I love about you. When you say interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, you are in it. And like I said, I’m just really curious about the storytelling aspect because storytelling to me is history. You’re doing historic investigation. Everything is rooted in sort of you got to dig beneath the surface. And so that requires a skill. I think you’re unparalleled. You have an unparalleled skill as far as I’m concerned.

Madelyn Porter (21:42):

Just keep stroking. There you go. There you go. When I’m very enamored or curious or very excited about the history of the suffragist movement, there were black suffragists. There was Ida B. Wells and there was Mary McCoy, who was the wife of Elijah McCoy. They talk about Elijah and there were riveters, black riveters and history. So in history, the storytelling, and when I become that person, I embody and embrace who they were and what they did and the importance, even slave narratives or even an educated, the first black doctor that graduated from Wayne State University and became the chief of medicine for Detroit Medical Center, and they’re just who they are and they’re inspiring their history that follows them because where they came from or what they had to work through. And I think it’s very important to embrace history and not erase history. And that’s one of my mottoes that in so many ways to think that someone wants to erase history and eliminate the stories that are there because that’s why we are where we are for many reasons and why things are the way they are for many reasons.

(23:08):

So I think it’s so important to embrace history and also to embrace the present and the future because that’s important as well. Because there are so many young people that are clueless, not just young. I mean, some seasoned folks are clueless. And so when some of them will hear me do so journal and tell some of the background, because like you said, you have to research and they’re like, “Wow, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know Frederick Douglass was biracial. I didn’t know he was biracial.” I’m like, “Yeah, this is my master’s son.” And they know who he is, but a lot of them don’t – Who don’t

Rodney Veal (23:45):

Really know.

Madelyn Porter (23:46):

Don’t really, really know. And he had a white brother that he loved and that was his blood brother, but he also understood who he was. He was enslaved and the power behind the stories and the connections of people in history and moving forward, how things are affected. I don’t know. I just get excited and then I get happy and people say to me, “Well, you don’t get bitter or angry or anything when you understand the stories and the background and the oppression.” No. If I did, I’d crawl up in the corner somewhere. No, no. I am just the hope and I’m an optimist by nature because to keep things moving and to make sure there is a future and a good life for those who don’t see it and to inspire them, because that’s why I love your show, Inspired by. Yes, I am inspired by the ancestors.

(24:57):

I really am.

Rodney Veal (24:58):

Oh, and that’s…

Madelyn Porter(25:00):

Yes.

Rodney Veal (25:01):

Real, 100% people. That’s

Madelyn Porter(25:03):

Right. I’m inspired by you because you bring these stories to life. What you are doing, your public media connect, inspired by, it’s so

Rodney Veal (25:15):

Yummy. It’s yummy. It is. I had a really great conversation with… I had just met this person the other day, and he is Remy Wertmeyer, who is the artistic director of Ballet Met. He is Australian by way of the Dutch National Ballet. But I did not realize that he also had a visual art practice. And so we started having this conversation. We started talking about it. We started realizing we had more in common and we just met and two hours later we’re like, “We got to do this again.” I’m like, “Okay, so are we instant friends now?” I know that’s

Madelyn Porter (26:03):

Right.

Rodney Veal (26:03):

Because that’s what art does, and that’s what theater does. I always think about it sparks engagement. And so a lot of people don’t think, and I’m making a real generalization, but I don’t think people to understand that you can see incredible theater in our regions. You can see it in Detroit, you can see it in Dayton. You can see it in Middletown. You can see it in Toledo, Akron. There is great theater everywhere. I’m kind of curious about, because like you said, you’ve been a part of the Detroit scene by coming in elementary school, but you’ve seen Detroit, you’ve seen it up close, you’ve seen the highs, you’ve seen the lows. I think it’s on a high right now, personally. Definitely. And so take us into the mindset of what it’s like to be a creative in that kind of realm, because it’s kind of fun right now.

(27:00):

It’s got to be kind of fun. Oh

Madelyn Porter (27:02):

Yeah. It’s a lot of fun. And being at Detroit Public Theater and bringing in the community where we partner with high schools, we have five partnerships, but I’m also responsible for bringing in other groups and other schools outside of those partnerships and bringing stories to them like Detroit 67, which is about the rebellion that people call it the riot. We call it the rebellion in Detroit in 1967. And it takes you on the journey of a brother and a sister right in the heart of it. They’re in their basement and the drama comes to them and then you never go outside the basement, but the drama comes inside. In fact, we will be doing it at the Fisher Theater in Detroit this coming season. It will be put on the Fisher Theater stage as well as at the St. Louis. So we are networking and connecting, which I think is important with regional theaters around the country as well because we will also do it at the St.

(28:08):

Louis Repertory

Rodney Veal (28:12):

In the early

Madelyn Porter (28:12):

Winter at St. Louis Rep. So that is produced by and written by… It’s written by, I should say, she’s one of our artistic producers and my friend, my sister girlfriend, Dominique Maruso. And Dominique wrote Ain’t Too Proud. She’s the only woman and black woman, Cass Tech grad. And it could be my daughter, of course, my lovely daughter, my surrogate child. And she wrote Ain’t Too Proud, which is Destroy the Temptations, which is on Broadway as well as Skeleton Crew, which were running simultaneously on Broadway. So she is the first woman and black woman to have two productions running simultaneously on Broadway. And we are proud to have her as one of our executive artistic producers of Detroit Public Theater. And we’re producing shows like last show of the season is Thurgood. Thurgood, Thurgood Marshall. It is a beautiful piece. Some people have said, “Oh, it is a beautiful…” And it is also going to be taken to, I want to say Arkansas with the same actor who’s part of the Detroit Public Theater family and director Steve Brodnax, who also directs and writes.

(29:34):

He has a piece going now at the Arkansas Repertory Theater where he is the artistic director. So I think connecting and engaging with theater companies all over the country, all over the world,

(29:48):

Very important to bring the arts because the arts… Whoa, what a form, what a platform to speak up and speak out and protest and say what you want to say and do it. So that it is palatable for some folks and maybe for some not, which is why the

Rodney Veal (30:08):

Important

Madelyn Porter (30:09):

Endowments snatch and funding. And unfortunately, that’s a whole nother story

Rodney Veal (30:16):

There right there as well. Yeah. But we also know that it’s a phrase that I was, not only are we surviving, but we’re thriving.

Madelyn Porter (30:23):

Yes.

(30:25):

Yes. And it’s so important for the arts, which is why I make it a point to go into the schools and to do programming and do story living in the schools. I connect and engage with… I have a company Mads World, Mads World. And I go all over wherever I can in between gigs to do a gig and to do storytelling and to reach and teach our youth. And I do a program that I am still working and building called Color My World, where those young students and grown folks as well, because it is geared and designed to fit all ages, color their world from the inside and not the out. And first of all, they just discover who they are on the inside, inspired by that whole True Colors programming. And so I just get so inspired through the arts because it’s so important.

(31:28):

And in Detroit, just like in Dayton, I think that the whole art scene is growing. And like you said, it’s thriving and striving towards becoming bigger and more encompassing. And the tentacles are growing.

Rodney Veal (31:48):

Absolutely. And so it’s

Madelyn Porter(31:49):

Just important to keep the arts

Rodney Veal (31:53):

Alive. And also utilize, I always look at it this way, utilize the capitalist system. We have a highway system that is the private and parallel in the world. Use it to our advantage to go partake in art. So really, a lot of times it was like, we can’t think about it in these limited terms of like, oh, I can only see… Yes, you can. You leave Dayton, you can come back with your ideas and thoughts. And it was so funny because the Whitakers, I love this. The

Madelyn Porter (32:27):

Whitakers.

Rodney Veal (32:29):

They came to Dayton this past weekend and they were at Richard and Carol’s. Richard Carroll, you want them as the host because they will take care of you. It’s a house filled with beautiful art and wonderful people. They’re good people. But I met the Whitakers. I found out that Mr. Whitaker went to Eastern Michigan University. We’re both EMU grads.

Madelyn Porter (32:56):

Wow.

(32:57):

I know all about the Whitakers. I know who they are and I have yet to have an audience with the Whitakers. Are you really? Yeah. I know they’ve been to Detroit Public Theater. Many folks have. And they know many of the artists and major artists here in the city. Oh, they do. Many of the major, they are one of them. And they are the holders of… So we have a scare club here where it’s called the Scareup Club and it’s a very old club. And Carol Maruso, who is the aunt of Dominique Maruso, is the director of that gallery. And it’s a huge arts hub, old, old, very

Rodney Veal (33:45):

Old

Madelyn Porter (33:48):

Albert Kahn kind of… And I know they know who the… And Mario Moore, that whole crew of artists

Rodney Veal (33:54):

That

Madelyn Porter (33:54):

Are at the Detroit… Yeah. They’re nationally known, so they know of each other. So I’m a lot in the theater circuit and in the visual arts circuit, I have yet to… I know some of the artists because they know they’re involved with the theater as well. So I have yet to spread my wings more in the visual arts arena, but I’m always at the DI… And they know of me and I know of them because they know I come and do programming, things of that

Rodney Veal (34:30):

Nature. Right. Exactly. And I tell you, I tell people all the time, I said, “You spend a day at the Data Art Institute and then spend a day at the Detroit Institute of Art, and you’ll see the parallels and you’ll see the connection.” And it’s really interesting. A lot of times I think what I love about the arts is that we may be operating in the same ecosystem, but when we do meet up…

Madelyn Porter (34:55):

I

Rodney Veal (34:55):

Know that’s right. The sparks fly. It’s just one of those things. And so when you think about your life and you think about where you’re at now and you’re just… I mean, this energy feels so good. I just love being in a room. I can’t wait for you to come back because it’s like, okay, she’s coming back. We’re hanging out. I love the fact that we were at Richard and Carol’s and we were trying to go see a burlesque show and we missed it. I know. But we ended up going to Tender Mercy, which was hilarious. I just went, “Let’s just go to Tender Mercy.” Oh,

Madelyn Porter (35:31):

Wow. It was wonderful. What a

Rodney Veal (35:34):

Fun. I loved it. We had a great time. I’m kind of curious about,

(35:40):

Because a lot of people listen to this podcast and which I’m really grateful for, but I think it serves a purpose. And one of the questions I was asking, because it is hard for people to understand authenticity in the realms of being in this creative world because a lot of times we think we’re not worthy. We don’t think that our voice matters. We don’t think our talent matters. And you work with a lot of young people. What would you say to someone who’s listening to this, maybe has someone young, old, it doesn’t matter because I feel like we’re all young at heart, about that feeling of not belonging, that feeling that your story’s not worthy. What do you say to them? What would you say to them? You got this platform. What would you say to them to say, “Uh-uh, you’re worthy.”

Madelyn Porter (36:26):

Yes, yes. And let your voice be heard in whatever you do, whatever your passion is. Let your voice come through that, whether you want aeronautics or you want to teach, whether you want to preach, let your voice be heard and understand that voice and have something to say, something to say that’s meaningful and something important to you. And you have the ability to… For the young, you’re the future. For the season, and I say season.

Rodney Veal (37:02):

I like that. Seasoned. I’m not going to use that.

Madelyn Porter (37:05):

Definitely seasoned.

Rodney Veal (37:06):

I

Madelyn Porter (37:06):

Am the theater director at a place called the Hannon Center in Detroit. It’s an artist hub for seniors and we create our own showcases. We write our own pieces. We create them. And it is such a beautiful, inspiring… And what we are is we’re in the business of staying young. There’s a piece written by a sister named Maddie Atwire way in the early 1900s. It was done and made popular again by… I want to say Patsy Klein, but it wasn’t Patsy Klein older than that. And she was on the Ed Sullivan Show and she recreated the piece, The Business of Staying Young. And it is so important for us to inspire the young because sometimes when they’re 16, 15, 13, they look at a 30-year-old and think they’re aging. So just imagine them looking at me like when then they look at people like us and they’re like, “We’re ageless.” And that’s important because you need to stay…

(38:16):

And it doesn’t have to be young at heart, but inspired. And I guess that is a youthful way and the energy, that’s where the energy comes from to think about living and not about dying and not about getting old. It’s about embracing who you are and living your best life. There’s a poet named Georgia Douglas Johnson and she wrote this piece a long time ago called Your World. She wrote it in 1918 and she says that your world is as big as you make it. “I know, for I used to abide to the narrowest nest in the corner. My wings press close to my side, but I side at the distant horizon with a skyline in circles the sea and after robbed with a burning desire to travel this immensity. I batted the cordons around me and cradled my wings on the breeze and soared to the up to most reaches with rapture, with power, with ease.

(39:21):

And you got to remember that your world is as big as you make it, young or old or older.s my mother used to say,” Don’t you bring those… “She had to have been about 94 and she was always in her right mind and all the way up until she passed when she was 98. And she said,” Oh Madeline, please don’t bring them over here because she’s so…

(39:46):

“I don’t bring those old tired folks around me because first thing out their mouth is,” Oh girl, I’m so tired. Lord have mercy. “And then I hear young folks say the same thing,” I’m tired sitting in the classroom. “I’m like,” You’re five times younger than I. Come on now. “So it’s all about making your world, embracing the world around you. And that will keep you inspired and will keep you healthier. I don’t care how many vitamins you take or how much exercise you do. If your world, if you don’t have that positive energy flowing, you’re kind of hit. And that’s at any age. So I work with the young and I work with the seasoned. And I love intergenerational programming as well.

Rodney Veal(40:44):

Absolutely.

Madelyn Porter(40:45):

Hand and center, I always bring in a youngster and I encourage literacy, of course, through writing, through theater. So I encourage them. We come up with a theme. And for instance, our first show was called Color My World, and the second one was called Say It Loud. So you can imagine who opened it, James Brown. But then I had a young person say what they had to say loud. And this young brother, he was 13, he wrote a piece saying, “I want my voice to be heard, so I’m going to say it loud. I’m not going to stand in the shadows.” I just remembered him saying it and he wrote the most brilliant, and he’s very introverted, a little shy. He stood there and he said this piece, and then a seasoned sister came right behind him and said, “You got your grand baby.” And then she wrote a whole piece around it.

(41:42):

It was just the most… Oh, it just colored my world. So I say to youngs, just to go back to what you asked me, oddly enough, I remember. I say, “Embrace who you are and don’t let anyone take anything away from you. Don’t let anyone take your zap.” And that’s what happens to young folks, and that’s what happens to older folks. You let folks take your zap. And once you let them take yours, don’t you ever let anyone take your zap and your zap is in here and nobody can take it away from you. Hold on to it.

Rodney Veal(42:23):

And that is why. That’s why Madeline Porter is so yummy, and I’m so glad you’re in my life now. It’s a joy. It’s just joy. And you know

Madelyn Porter(42:34):

You can’t get away from me now.

Rodney Veal (42:38):

I don’t want to. So there you go. Yay. So folks, I know she’s coming back to Dayton. It’s coming. When you see Madeline Porter’s name attached to it, you need to run, get that ticket, clear your schedule, be there, be there. I see a lot of good things coming with this

Madelyn Porter(42:59):

Community. Oh, I feel a lot of good… I got a great energy when I was invited to come to Dayton. Carol and Reggie invited me and they are the face of Front Street.

Rodney Veal (43:12):

Yeah, they are.

Madelyn Porter (43:13):

And so I came and I was like, “Oh my goodness.” I was blowing bubbles all over the street. I was just walking, talking to any, and it’s just so open, so diverse, the community, everyone from challenged individuals to the LGBTQ community plus and plus. I said, “Oh my God, look at this.” I mean, it was colorful. It was beautiful. There were murals everywhere and there was music everywhere and there was theatrics everywhere and I just was in love. So Dayton, hello, get

Rodney Veal (43:59):

Ready. Hello. Love it. Thank you for spending time with us. You are just all that. You are yummy. Yay. Thank you. Thanks for being totally inspiring. You’re the best.