The Musical Dramatic Arts Foundation (MDAF) uses the power of storytelling to inspire change and help people discover their voices as agents of transformation. Through professional theater productions and educational programs, we cultivate love, hope, courage, possibility and perseverance through the musical-dramatic arts.
Founded in 2021 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, MDAF builds on the fourteen-year legacy of award-winning writer/composer Douglas Tappin.
Leadership
Georgette “Gigi” Dixon
Board Chair
Georgette “Gigi” Dixon is the Executive Vice President and head of External Engagement at Wells Fargo Bank. In this role, Gigi is responsible for stakeholder relationships, sponsorship activation, and advocacy and influencer strategies. Her work focuses on amplifying Wells Fargo’s efforts to ensure that people across our workforce, communities, and supply chain feel valued and respected and have equal access to resources, services, products, and opportunities to succeed. Before her current role, Gigi was head of External Relations for Wells’ Government Relations and Public Policy (GRPP). Her team led national outreach and engagement to address social and economic challenges facing communities across the nation. She also helped connect and convene non-government institutions, think tanks, trade associations, advocacy groups, and academic institutions to promote Wells Fargo’s policy priorities.
Gig also has served as marketing manager for Wholeale Banking, Small Business Banking, and Commercial Banking; director of Emerging (multiculutal) Markets; and director of Strategic Partnerships for Wells Fargo Foundation. She also served on the company’s Corporate Diversity Council for six years. Gigi joined Wells Fargo in 1994.
In 2005, Gigi was recognized as one of the Most Powerful Women to Watch by American Banker magazine. In 2023, Diversity Woman magazine named her as one of their Elite 100: A Tribute to Black Women Executives. Gigi has a Bachelor of Science degree, with distinction, from Tennessee State University in speech communicatoins and theater as well as certificates in Corporate Community Involvement and Nonprofit Leadership from the Boston College Carroll School of Management. She also has an honorary doctorate from Livingstone College.
Douglas Tappin
Secretary
Douglas Tappin bridges the worlds of law, scholarship, and musical theatre with a unique artistic vision. Born and educated in the UK, he worked as a barrister for eleven years, including as In-House Counsel for Island Records, Universal Music, and Zomba/Jive International, before answering a deeper calling.
Driven by questions about art’s transformative power, Douglas pursued postgraduate studies that culminated in his groundbreaking dissertation, That There Might Be Inspiration, an exploration of how musical drama can transform individuals, communities, and culture through the works of Wagner, Puccini, Sondheim, Lloyd Webber, and other leaders of the form.
For over two decades, Douglas has been writing and composing musical-dramatic works that spark reflection, emotion, and community engagement. He has created nine full-length pieces in addition to I DREAM, a work developed through extensive research of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, writings, and speeches to ensure historical and socio-cultural authenticity. His collaborators have included musical luminaries such as Greg Phillinganes (musical director for Stevie Wonder and the late Michael Jackson) and Grammy-nominated orchestrator Carl Marsh.
A member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Douglas consults with educational, business, and cultural organizations on the vital role musical drama plays in our lives. He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Anna, and two children, creating works that catalyze love, hope, justice, and reconciliation. To learn more about Douglas, please visit www.DouglasTappin.com
Ryan Tuttle
Treasurer
Ryan Tuttle is an audit partner at RSM US LLP. He has nineteen years of experience serving clients in the financial services industry, focused primarily on the insurance sector. Prior to joining RSM as an audit partner, Ryan spent over 16 years at a Big Four accounting firm. His clients are primarily large, complex public and private insurance companies and other financial services organizations, including global multinationals.
Ryan has led audit and consulting engagements in both the US and Europe, and has called the U.S,, Germany, and the Netherlands home. His expertise includes life and annuity insurance contracts, financial instruments, health, long term care and disability products, property/casualty insurers, and reinsurance, as well as fintech and asset management companies. He is a member in good standing with the AICPA, and participates on the AICPA’s Insurance Expert Panel on behalf of RSM.
Ryan resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and children. He serves as Board Chair for Grace Marietta church.
Quentin Earl Darrington
Associate Producer
Quentin Earl Darrington was most recently seen as Joe Boyd in the Broadway-bound revival of Damn Yankees and as Frederick Douglass in the world premiere of 3 Summers of Lincoln at the La Jolla Playhouse. He also starred as Don Cornelius in the San Francisco world premiere of Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical. Quentin originated the dual roles of Rob/Joe Jackson in the Broadway mega-hit MJ the Musical and received a Grammy Award nomination for his acclaimed performance as Agwe in the Tony Award-winning revival of Once On This Island. His other Broadway credits include starring as Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the Tony-nominated revival of Ragtime and as Old Deuteronomy in the Broadway revival of Cats.
A native of Lakeland, Florida, God’s blessings on Quentin’s life have provided an extensive career taking him from the Tampa Bay to Broadway and beyond—as a performer, teacher, and humanitarian. His service and artistry have reached communities in 46 U.S. states and internationally throughout Canada, the Caribbean, Brazil, England, Germany, Russia, New Zealand, and Kenya.
His Broadway national tour credits include Memphis, The Color Purple, The Lion King, and Ragtime. He has also starred in productions at The Kennedy Center, New York City Center, La Jolla Playhouse, The MUNY, Cincinnati Playhouse, Sacramento Music Circus, and Goodspeed Opera House, among others. In addition to his stage career, Quentin has appeared on television in Blue Bloods, NCIS: New Orleans, The Blacklist, Elementary, Madam Secretary, The Good Fight, and as a recurring guest star on the CBS drama The Code.
He holds an MFA from the University of Central Florida and a BA from the University of South Florida.
Philippians 3:12–14
Mary Tabor Engel
Advisory Board Member
Mary Tabor Engel is a journalist whose career has included work at The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, NPR, and The New York Times, where she was a member of the metropolitan reporting staff that won a Pulitzer for its coverage of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In addition to her work as an investigative journalist, her beats included New York’s Federal Courts, National Education, Book Publishing, and Brooklyn. She is currently working as regional national editor at The Monitor.
A native of Memphis, Mary graduated from Princeton University, where she sang with an a cappella group and the famous Triangle Show. She has lived and worked in Boston, Mexico, Guatemala, Washington, DC, New York City, London, and Montclair, NJ, before moving to Charlotte with her husband and four children in 2006.
Mary’s board service has included the Princeton University Board of Trustees, Hutchison School National Alumnae Board, Teach for America (Charlotte), WFAE (Charlotte’s NPR affiliate), Opera Carolina, The Daily Memphian, World View at UNC-Chapel Hill, and The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Charlotte.
Mary also worked for many years as a part-time instructor at Knight School for Journalist at Queens University of Charlotte and co-founded the community service group We Walk Together Charlotte.
Contact Us
Please complete the form to the right, and a member of our team will be in touch.