Marc Evan Jackson talks Detroit Creativity Project, Improvement Through Improv (EXCLUSIVE)

Marc Evan Jackson is an actor of impressive range and ability. He's been on countless TV shows, from Parks and Recreation to Masters of Sex, Brooklyn Nine-Nine to The Office. He's also been in films such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and 22 Jump Street, as well digital productions such as Suit Up, a comedy centering on a crisis guru who heads up a failing college athletic department. He currently stars as the lead in Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, a sci-fi western that is part of the critically-acclaimed old-time radio show The Thrilling Adventure Hour, from writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker. The series is not only performed monthly at Largo at the Coronet in Hollywood, CA, but also a syndicated weekly podcast as part of the Nerdist Network. In short, the man is a multifaceted talent. But Marc Evan Jackson is now dedicated to using his skills to give back to the city he loves.

Jackson is the president and co-founder of the Detroit Creativity Project, an arts program that seeks to "empower and inspire young people through the art of improvisation." I had the pleasure of speaking with Jackson at New York Comic Con over the weekend, where we got to speak about comedy and television influences, how improv can improve one's life, and why the DCP's upcoming fundraiser, The Detroit Party, is such an important event for the furtherance of the arts. Jackson was a pleasure to speak with, and he offered some valuable insight into the nature of improvisation, and its uses beyond just performance. Check out our exclusive interview below:

Credit: Roman Cho

So could you tell me a bit about the Detroit Creativity Project? Its goals, its origins...

Marc Evan Jackson: Sure! I came from the Second City in Detroit. In the late 90s, I was there with friends of mine: Keegan-Michael Key from Key & Peele, Maribeth Monroe from Workaholics, Larry Joe Campbell from According to Jim. We all came up through that system, and really appreciate how important improvisation is. And so we all were looking for ways to give back to the city of Detroit, so we formed an organization along with a number of other creatives from Detroit, people who have roots there, like Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who's directing the new King Kong movie called Skull Island. He's also directing Metal Gear Solid, so he's directing some big movies. He's a young guy under 30 who's a blockbuster director from Detroit. Phredley Brown, who's the musical director and lead guitarist for Bruno Mars, is also from Detroit. So all of these people, along with my wife Beth Hagenlocker and I, wanted to give back to the city of Detroit. And what a lot of us know best are the arts, specifically improvisation. So for The Detroit Creativity Project, our flagship program is called the Improv Project, and we offer improv instruction free of charge in Detroit public schools. Probably the closest link that most people have to it is Whose Line Is It Anyway? It's short-form games where you get suggestions.

A wonderful part of improvisation is that, in order to do it well, you've got to be present, you've got to be agreeable, and you've got to work well as a team. It's super confidence-building. It's a really wonderful way for people to develop life skills, communication skills, confidence. It takes a lot of the fear out of stressful situations that, in school, can correlate to things like testing, things like interviewing for colleges, interviewing for jobs. Improvisation just makes everything a little bit smoother. It's a great social lubricant, and we've all found it absolutely vital to our jobs as artists, as writers, and directors, and actors. We've been at it since 2012, and we are now a 501(c)(3). We are incorporated. We get to offer improv instruction to public schools.

Credit: LifeofReilly

To what extent did art-based curriculum affect the path your life took? Or was this always something you wanted to do, with the arts just giving you the skills you needed in that direction?

Marc Evan Jackson: You know, it's interesting. I think it's a little bit of both for me. The arts were very important in my family growing up, and very important to my parents. So I started playing piano when I was six years old, started taking lessons, and took lessons all the way through the time that I was a junior in high school. And then, after I stopped taking lessons, I started playing a lot more because it was no longer work, it was just fun. But I played percussion growing up, and French horn growing up, and I did all of those things all the way through college. But I think if you had asked me in high school or college if I was going to grow up to be an actor, and be living in LA, and be in movies and television, I would have thought you were insane. It's something I've really enjoyed doing, but I don't think I ever thought of it being a real career path.

But I guess that's an important thing to mention about the Detroit Creativity Project, is that it's not our goal to create actors or writers or comedians, necessarily. We're just looking to share this really cool life skill with other people, and have some fun along the way. I think somewhere along the line, somewhere around third grade, we breed out of our children the play and the silliness and the ability to just have fun, and we say "Get serious, do your work. Work hard." And what improv teaches you is to get silly again, and to play, and pretend, and allow yourself to look foolish. And when you're willing to be silly, you almost never come across as silly. You almost always meet with success and have a great time.

Credit: Shiloh Strong

So what are some of your duties as DCP president?

Marc Evan Jackson: Well, we're a lean organization. We have a board of five. My wife and I are president and vice president of the board, and then the associated artistic director of the Second City Hollywood is on our board as well. The owner of the Philly Improv Theater was a student of mine back in Detroit years ago, and now he has his own theater in Philadelphia. And then we have a PhD psychologist who wrote her doctoral thesis on improvisation. So it's a lean organization.

One of my primary jobs is setting up fundraising events and hosting fundraising events, and we've got great one coming up in Los Angeles. It's called The Detroit Party. It's being hosted by Keegan Michael Key from Key & Peele. We've got most of the cast of Silicon Valley coming to join us. Thomas Middleditch is coming. Special musical guest is Martin Starr with Common Rotation, his band. We also have Kumail Nanjiani, also from Silicon Valley, coming to do stand-up for us. There are many other special guests. It's going to be a really good time.

Credit: LifeofReilly

What are some of your inspirations in pop culture, whether a comedian, an actor, a movie, or a show?

Marc Evan Jackson: That's going to be a long list. [Laughs] But I think big ones in recent memory are things like the British Office. I really thought that was great, and I love the American Office. I'm also fortunate to be a part of some shows that I really enjoy, things like Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Those are shows I adore as a fan, and consider myself very blessed to be on. [Considers] I don't know, I think I like dry stuff. I like British humor a lot, things like Steve Coogan, Alan Partridge, and Knowing Me Knowing You. [Partridge] is pretty much a genius. But also, here we are at Comic Con in New York City, and I have a big sci-fi event as well. I think, from very early on, Star Trek was the jam. And then Star Wars came along when I was nine or ten years old, and I was very into that. I guess anything "Star": I'm a big fan of Stargate SG1.

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So what do you think of this generation's gradual shift towards retro culture. You mention the sci-fi event, Thrilling Adventure Hour. So do you think there's a market for a Thrilling Adventure type serial on television?

Marc Evan Jackson: Oh, I know for sure there is. I think it really does feed into this retro angle you're talking about, this sort of steampunk, maker movement. I was talking to my friend Nick Offerman the other day, and he's a maker. He makes things with his hands, he makes things out of wood, and I feel that's evidence of people wanting to go back to a time when things had more value. And I know that for sure for anything Acker and Blacker are attached to, it could be a serialized television thing, an animation thing, it could be a feature. Obviously, my heart would be with Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars or, of course, Beyond Belief with Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster, which --- I think there are wheels in motion in both of those directions. But any of the middle bits as well: Moonshine Holler, Captain Laserbeam, Amelia Earhart: Fearless Flyer, Jefferson Reed: Ace American, all of those things could stand on their own as legitimate masterpieces.

Credit: Allan Amato

Absolutely. Now, to bring it back to the Detroit Creativity Project...

Marc Evan Jackson: Let's! [Laughs]

Are there any plans to get another, similar project started in other low-income areas around the country?

Marc Evan Jackson: I think Detroit is really our focus right now. Anywhere could do it. And I think it's a vital skill for anybody. I think everyone should take an improv class. It makes people better people than they began as. But our focus is solely on Detroit.

But it doesn't just need to be at-risk or low-income areas. I mean, it's truly something people of any age, any income, and any socio-economic situation could benefit from. But Detroit is so needy, and our hearts are with Detroit so deeply, that Detroit is where we're going to maintain our focus. We're growing steadily, and every little bit helps. Our organization, as I say, is such a lean one that nearly every dollar goes straight into the schools, into the children, into the teachers, to offer this program. So, to us, a $5 donation, a $20 donation is all very meaningful to us. It doesn't have to be big, foundational grants. Anything that goes into DCPImprov.org is uniquely vital. But we have a lot of room to expand. Detroit is a winnowing city. It's shrinking, population-wise, but the arts programs have been so severely cut back that there's a lot more work for us to do there.

Could you tell us about some of the instructors who work with the DCP?

Marc Evan Jackson: Sure, of course! Detroit, for a city of its size, has a giant improv community. There was a Second City there, which is what took me to Detroit in 1997, and it was there for about fifteen years, and, sadly, has since closed. But, in that time, it sparked multiple generations of improvisers. Some students of ours, people that Keegan-Michael Key taught, that Maribeth Monroe taught, that Larry Joe Campbell have taught, have gone on to open their own improv theaters. There's one called Go Comedy! in Ferndale, which is just growing. It's so vibrant and has such a great community. The Planet of Ant is another one that has so much going on. So when my wife and I were looking for an opportunity to give back to Detroit, we didn't have to look very far. We took a meeting with a friend of mine, one of the owners of Go Comedy!, and he said, "Well, you know that Margaret Edwartowski, who's a woman I was in the Main Stage cast with, is the director of arts at Y Arts at the Metropolitan YMCA in Detroit. We made a couple of calls and were off and running. There are many, many teachers there that are qualified improv teachers, people that are qualified to work with middle school and high school students, that go into the schools and share their magic with these kids.

Credit: Shiloh Strong

Lastly, how does one enroll in the program?

Marc Evan Jackson: It's by schools. So, early on, some of the outreach was us going, "Please let us come bring this program to your schools." And word has spread a little bit, so now schools are reaching out to the Y or to us to bring the Detroit Creativity Project's Improv Project into their school. We have more requests now than we have the ability to fund. That's why we're fundraising, and that's why we're looking to spread the gospel of improv.

Well, I think what you're doing is absolutely vital. I really appreciate the interview!

Marc Evan Jackson: Thank you! Thanks for coming here. I hope you enjoy your very first Comic Con. Are you overwhelmed?

It's daunting!

Marc Evan Jackson: It's kind of a thing, right?

Yeah! Pictures don't do justice to how much is going on. I kind of thought I was ready, and I'm not.

Marc Evan Jackson: You've been on the floor, I trust?

Yes.

Marc Evan Jackson: It's bananas. The cosplay alone is something I've tried to describe to people who've never been, and it's impossible. But I think if there's anywhere to let your freak flag fly, it's here.

Like you said, it's learning to be silly again!

Marc Evan Jackson: You gotta do it!

Thank you again. It was great meeting you.

Marc Evan Jackson: And you as well.

Credit: Rachael Porter

To donate to the The Detroit Creativity Project, and learn more about the organization, visit the official site by clicking HERE.

And to purchase tickets to The Detroit Party on November 1st, hosted by Keegan-Michael Key and featuring guests Kumail Nanjiani, Sara Watkins, Detroit icon Allee Willis, and Marc Evan Jackson himself, click HERE.