Mahi Ruiter-Feenstra

Singer, actor, and production assistant, Mahi Ruiter-Feenstra brings a deeply personal and emotionally aware lens to the stage. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Ann Arbor from the age of three, Mahi found a home in theatre, singing, and set design starting in second grade. Their performance journey includes roles in Annie, The Wizard of Oz, Macbeth, Euripides’ Medea, and Ni une más. Through trauma-informed storytelling and healing through performance, Mahi channels early-life experiences of abandonment and isolation into meaningful, resonant artistic contributions—especially when lifting up stories of other survivors with empathy and creative resilience.

“I haven’t been sexually assaulted, but just before my third birthday, I was abandoned in an orphanage in Ethiopia, and adopted seven months later. I bring the emotions of that trauma, isolation, and sense that I don’t belong to singing a song about the trauma Jon Vaughn went through as a young boy.”