DETROIT, Mich. — Some big Hollywood names with deep Detroit roots are giving back to the next generation of performers in the city.
Actors including J.K. Simmons, Sam Richardson and Tim Meadows stopped by the Detroit Opera House to meet with students from the Detroit School of the Arts ahead of a new charity variety show designed to support arts education and inspire young creatives.
The event was held in connection with the first-ever Saturday variety show dubbed "The Coney" — a fundraising effort in partnership with the Children's Foundation of Michigan featuring prominent actors with Detroit connections.
Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons, sporting a Tigers ball cap, spoke to his connection to the city.
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"I didn't start my career here, but I started my life here," Simmons said.
Emmy Award-winning actor Sam Richardson, who was born and raised in Detroit, says he hopes the effort reaches the students who need it most.
"I hope that this helps find the kids who are hoping to find it," Richardson said.
Detroit-area native Tim Meadows says he never misses a chance to represent his hometown.
"I want people to know this city is really a great place," Meadows said.
Actor Marc Evan Jackson, who co-founded The Coney and the Detroit Creativity Project, says the goal goes beyond launching careers.
"There will be stars that come out of this. That's for sure. But the primary goal is sharing things that we know to be good for human beings," Jackson said.
The actors echoed a shared vision for what the initiative could mean for Detroit's young talent.
"Fostering that next generation," Simmons said.
"Bring opportunities here so that the talent can remain here or come here," Richardson said.
For 16-year-old Detroit School of the Arts student Xander Roberts, the experience was hard to put into words.
"I'm star struck I would say," Roberts said.
Roberts says theater gives him a way to share what lives inside him — something he couldn't do without it.
"Without them they would just be trapped in my head… and if you have a gift, you should share it," Roberts said.
He says the interaction opened his eyes to what's possible.
"Give me different doors or pathways I can walk through," Roberts said.
Andy Huff, a theater instructor at the Detroit School of the Arts — which he says is the only school of its kind in Detroit — says watching his students interact with the actors was something special.
"They're giddy. They're over the moon about it," Huff said.
Huff says the arts have a way of shaping students that extends far beyond the stage.
"There's just some secret sauce, mojo magic that comes through. They just become rockstars in whatever field they go into," Huff said.
"No surprise, Detroit has some of the most talented people in the world," Huff said.
The Coney variety show is slated to feature the actors participating in games including a coney dog eating contest and karaoke, along with other surprises. The celebrities say they're happy to put their work on display in a unique way.
"Having so much fun that I'm just floating," Meadows said.
"We all get to just goof around — it's pretty cool," Simmons said.
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