PORTLAND, Maine — Madeleine Corson, a former media executive and board member for the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, died Monday after battling cancer.
Corson was the former Chair of the Board of Guy Gannett Communications and a long-term member of the Museum & Theatre Board of Directors. She gave a "foundational" gift to help build the new location at Thompson's Point.
The state-of-the-art theatre there is named "Maddy's Theatre" after Madeleine Corson’s birth mother, Alice Madeline Gannett Gatchell, with whom she shares her name. She passed away just 11 days into new motherhood.
Corson fought for decades to keep the Children's Theatre of Maine up and running, culminating in the successful merger of that organization with the Children’s Museum of Maine in 2008.
"It is with heavy hearts that the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine family mourns the loss of Madeleine G. 'Maddy' Corson—our biggest cheerleader, generous benefactor, stalwart supporter, and dearest friend," Julie Butcher Pezzino, executive director of CMTM, wrote. "Maddy was unwavering in her commitment to ensuring a true home for children’s theatre. Her most significant gift to CMTM was Maddy’s Theatre—a permanent, state-of-the-art performance space designed specifically for kids."
Since it opened three years ago, Maddy’s Theatre (named in honor of her birth mother) has hosted 20 professional productions and 532 individual performances, and has featured 141 adult and child actors. Over 30,000 visitors have watched live theatre created expressly with children in mind.
"Maddy was, and should be, immensely proud of this incredible accomplishment," Butcher Pezzino wrote. "Maddy almost never missed a production, and she especially delighted in any intergenerational show featuring children and adults acting together on stage. She often said she needed to see a show twice because she spent so much time just watching the reaction on children’s faces as performers entertained and captivated them. To her, this was the ultimate magic of children’s theatre."
Corson recently attended CMTM's celebration of 100 years of children's theatre with a weekend Centennial Celebration and Play Festival. Fifteen original plays were selected from 17 adult and youth playwrights. Over the course of the weekend, 73 plays were performed across all three floors of the Museum & Theatre.
"We will miss her fiercely, but she has left such an indelible imprint that she will be with us forever," she wrote.
