Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Marable Jr.
Eric, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Eric MarabIe, Jr. aka MRVLL. I am an actor, writer, slam poet, emcee, guitarist, singer/songwriter, teacher, and director from Birmingham, AL. I began acting in church plays written by my mother (She’s a genius. You should interview her) and writing poems at the age of six. I wrote my first verse at 13. My family laughed at me so I vowed to never spit again. But the next year, I was filming a poetry workshop for one of my teachers. I wasn’t supposed to participate but I asked to write a piece. At the end of the workshop, after everyone had spit their piece, my teacher asked me if I had a poem.
Then, the teaching artist made me spit in front of the whole class. Afterwards, he asked me if I had ever done that before. I said no, haha. He then put me on to more poetry workshops at the Central Library and that’s where I met my mentors, the Real Life Poets Inc. I started taking my writing and performing seriously. I continued acting and doing open mics throughout high school. When I went to college at the University of Alabama, I majored in Theatre and minored in Creative Writing. I did work in stage, film, and also traveling across the country to give speeches on pressing social topics with the Alabama Forensics Council (Speech and Debate Team) as well as competing in nation poetry slam competitions with the Alabama Student Association for Poetry (ASAP). After spending my senior year doing research on the school to prison pipeline (along with all the other messed up things happening in the education system), I stumbled into an opportunity to become a teacher in NYC.
After moving to New York City to teach and pursue acting, I decided to focus on developing a creative brand combining all modes of my expression to create work that drives thought, communication, and healing forward. I left my apartment in Brooklyn and came back home to the south. I am now a Resident Teaching Artist with the Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative (GBAEC). I am Poet, Producer and Writer for “Bloom City,” a creative writing YouTube series that will premiere in Spring 2020. I am a Staff Writer, Song Writer, and Actor for “The Juke Joint Live,” a variety show created by the incomparable polymath Erika E. Wade. I am Co-Executive Director/Director of Programming & Special Events for of “The Flourish Alabama,” an arts education organization in Birmingham, AL.
I am Producer, Director and M.C. for The Flourish at Freedom House in Birmingham, AL. This is a monthly showcase of the best up and coming artist from the city of Birmingham and beyond. We had to stop live shows but I still host on Instagram Live the last Saturday of each month @theflourishalabama. Our next show is October 31st. I am lead director of the award-winning Off-Broadway production “Black Enough,” a one-man show written/performed by one of the nation’s top slam poets Jahman Ariel Hill. I am also working on finishing my first music project, “Mastadon”. This piece is an exploration of the process of unlearning and letting go of things that no longer serve my life or my mission. Look for streaming and visuals to start dropping Spring of 2020.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
(Soulja Boy Voice) SMOOTH??? Haha. College was a struggle to define my identity. I was so sure of who I was but was missing the point. I was trying to be a projection of whatever “greatness” is but wasn’t doing the grind necessary to really understand myself or the world around me. Still made some incredible art and met the people who would help to shape me as an artist and as a man. New York was a struggle that broke down everything that I believed about myself and the world around me. I thought that as long as I got off the plane with a positive attitude and my charming disposition, that I would be on Broadway in a couple weeks haha. WRONG lol.
I had to learn how to deal with harsh realities of adulthood. I had to accept that I could have learned all this earlier if I worked harder and didn’t let fear control my actions. I had to accept that everything anyone had ever taught me about love was ass-backward. I had to accept that the world is much more evil than I could possibly imagine and that I am not separate from that evil, but complicit in it. I then had to accept that it is my responsibility to evolve as a person. After also accepting the realities of anxiety and depression, I decided that moving back home would give me a chance to rebuild myself from scratch. It has been four years of breaking, building and evolving. I now have the opportunity to evolve the very community that birthed me.
The Flourish Alabama – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am now a Resident Teaching Artist with the Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative (GBAEC). We provide integrated arts instruction to participants of varying ages, backgrounds, and art-making experiences. We respond to local communities while sharing our mission and goals to create collective impact, ensuring proper planning, and building sustainability for arts education across the state.
I am Co-Executive Director/Director of Programming & Special Events for of “The Flourish Alabama,” an arts education organization in Birmingham, AL. What started off as a college thesis has blossomed into a movement. Initially, “The Flourish” was a theory created by Co-Executive Director Jahman Ariel Hill, which posited that “Black people are infinitely possible beings.” Now, The Flourish Alabama is a nonprofit organization whose mission is planting the seeds to help young artists bloom. To do this, we create and facilitate “multi-medium” programming and curriculum geared towards helping youth create collaborative art projects, facilitate art workshops for artists of all ages, and create and host events that showcase artists of color. Our goal is to provide programming across the state of Alabama and eventually build our network to plant Flourish organizations across the country. Here is a short video discussing what we do as an organization.
I am Co-Host, Producer and Head Writer for “Bloom City”; a creative writing YouTube series created through our collaboration with GBAEC. The “Bloom City” sessions will help the students explore an essential idea or concept through a new poetic form. We then introduce them to new literary tools to be implemented as they compose their own pieces. We then share and discuss what we were able to learn from the process. The goal is for participants to produce artistic projects that showcase creative writing, require research on current or historical events while learning a mode of expression that builds self efficacy and self worth. Season 2 premieres Spring 2020.
I am a Staff Writer, Song Writer, and Actor for “The Juke Joint Live”, A multi-media live show inviting you into the lives of Black folks in America. Live guests. Recorded sketches and Interactive segments that educate the viewer on the harsh realities of life in America while leading with joy & humor. The show is created and hosted by the incomparable polymath Erika E. Wade (https://www.facebook.com/jukejointlive).
I am Producer, Director and Host for The Flourish at Freedom House in Birmingham, AL. The last Saturday of every month, painters, musicians, poets, and artists from across the South and beyond gather at the Freedom House to share their art with each other. Each month, I curate a wide variety of acts, from live painters to comedians, singers, and more, all in the name of helping artists bloom. The Flourish at the Freedom House is the perfect place to kick back and enjoy local artists and some of the best artist from across the country. We had to stop our live show because of the pandemic, but I still host on Instagram Live the last Saturday of each month @theflourishalabama page. Our next show is October 31st.
I am lead director of the award winning Off – Broadway production “Black Enough”; a one man show written/performed by one of the nation’s top slam poets Jahman Ariel Hill. Black Enough is a time-bending reimagining of the world around us. Hill takes us on a exciting journey through song, dance, poetry, and humor. This award-winning one-man show tackles topics of childhood, race, gender, and more. Hill challenges us to Flourish unabashedly and unapologetically. The message for Black people everywhere is simple: you are enough. (https://jahmanhill.com/black-enough)
What I love about each of these projects is that it brought together communities of individuals from across the nation for the purpose of one goal: creating better days for the kids. Each organization is headed by leadership that shares my vision for a healthier existence. We as human beings are capable of much more than what we’ve been taught. But how does one tap into that potential? By first accepting reality for what it is. Then, discover the grace to forgive yourself and reality for the pain that had to be endured. Once we can do that, we can then begin the process of unlearning the behaviors that keep us sick so that we can follow a new path of self love and self efficacy. I believe each of these projects/organizations tackle this journey through this lens but in wholly unique and surprising ways. I think that what sets us apart is the way we foster a sense of community. There is no ego. There is no greed. There is only the mission and each person’s conviction to seeing it come to fruition. It’s beautiful and I am blessed that I get to evolve alongside these amazing humans.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I’m still working on this honestly haha. But what I have so far: Success is being able to take care of my own needs so that I have the body, mind, heart (and wallet) to make dope shit with dope people while also helping others get what they need.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theflourishal.com/
- Phone: 205-834-6014
- Email: ejmarable@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ejdamarvel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000140390958
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ejdamarvel
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5E_IiSToYk
Image Credit:
Destiny Tubbs (De Marie)
Janavian Young
Shock
Kansas Cheney
William Black
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