A star-studded event in LA attended by celebrities and the gritty city of Detroit might not seem to have a lot in common, but Hollywood and Motown made a love connection this week, when a group of Detroit expatriates put on a show to raise money for the Y-Arts Detroit Creativity Project.
The event was the first annual Detroit Party, presented by Laugh on Behalf, headed by former Detroiter Mark Warzecha, and benefiting the Detroit Creativity Project, started by a group of former performers at the now-defunct Second City Detroit (most of whom are also alumni of Wayne State). They’re still in close touch with each other and with other former Second City performers in Detroit, and wanted to reach back and help.
It’s that close-knit network that brought the project to the Y – Y-Arts director Margaret Edwartowski is one of those Second City alumni. “One of reasons we’ve done this is that we all want to give back to Detroit,” says Marc Evan Jackson, who co-founded the group with his wife, Beth Hagenlocker. “We feel the city gave so much to us while we were there.”
They launched the Detroit Creativity Project, which provides 10-week lessons in improvisational theater taught by professional improv actors to Detroit public schools, including one for youth in the juvenile justice system. The program is in its third year and continues to grow and flourish, thanks in large part to the fundraising efforts of the LA folks.
Tuesday’s event raised funds for the program with an hour-long comedy show featuring some big names, many of whom have a Detroit connection. Mary Lynn Raskub from 24 (who grew up in Trenton), Fred Willard of Modern Family and Best in Show, and a group from the famed Groundlings theater all donated their time to perform, among others. “It’s a great time to see all your Detroit friends on a fun evening,” Marc says. “People see the Detroit Creativity Project is an incredibly worth endeavor — when we tell people what we are doing they smile and say it’s something they should be a part of.”
The show kicked off with some funny and touching videos, including two from Cass Tech grad and Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn. Cass Tech is one of the schools benefiting from the Detroit Creativity Project. She’d heard about the project through a professional connection she had with Marc, and graciously invited a film crew into her home to create a video invitation to the event and a welcome message to guests. “She had recently been back and seen some of the hardship, and she wanted to be a part of this program,” Marc says.
The other videos were from retired Detroit news anchor Mort Crim, which, predictably, got a hugely enthusiastic response from the crowd, Marc says. His videos took a funnier tone, name-checking favorite Detroit foodstuffs, needling fellow local TV icon Bill Bonds and expressing wonderment at the ageless beauty of his longtime co-anchor, Carmen Harlan.
The event will help the Detroit Creativity project continue its work, along with a holiday show at Go Comedy in Ferndale that provides a chance to see some local folks made good in a very intimate setting. Marc’s been back a few times to see the work of the Detroit students, and says he’s been really impressed with what they are doing. “They are fearless and they are superheroes – hilarious, hilarious superheroes.”