This young KC activist and local artists battle social justice problems on stage

Editor’s Note: This interview is part of the second season of Voices of Kansas City, a project created in collaboration with KKFI Community Radio to highlight the experiences of Kansas Citians making an impact on the community. Hear the interviews at 6 p.m. Wednesdays on KKFI 90.1 FM, or at KKFI.org. Do you know someone who should be featured in a future season of Voices of Kansas City? Tell us about them using this form.

On what journalists often refer to as a cold call, I chatted briefly with Logan Stacer about his theater group Heartland Arts KC. The Star was looking for Black, local grassroots activists and had gotten a tip that Stacer and Heartland would fit that bill. We took the chance and gave him a call. Even over the phone it was immediately evident that Stacer, a Piper High School graduate with a master’s degree in arts politics from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, is passionate about his work — using performance art to speak to social justice issues.

Stacer said he grew up a tall skinny biracial kid — Black and white and “a little bit lighter skinned,” — who got to enjoy what he called, “mixed privilege.“ No one felt threaten by this Black teen, Stacer told us. He felt safe with his identity, but he also felt a bit guilty that a lot of other Black teens did not. The desire to speak out about racial inequity and privilege hit him hard after a white Ferguson police officer gunned down Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black student in a St. Louis, Mo. suburb.

Stacer turned his frustration into an award winning extemporaneous National Forensic League. speech and the passion flame that fuels his activism was lit. Stacer was driven to use his art, theatrical performance, for good and to teach others how to do the same with their talent. His story is compelling and his activism vehicle is unusual. That’s why The Star asked him to share his story as part of this season of the Voices of Kansas City.

The Star invited Stacer to join us in the studios of KKFI radio where he recently spoke to Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity. That interview, with minor editing for space and clarity, is published here in a question and answer format to share Stacer’s authentic voice.

Meet Logan Stacer

The Star : Normally, when we think of activism, we think of somebody out there with a sign marching up and down the streets or in council chambers fighting for some change. But that’s not exactly the way Logan does activism. He is the artistic director at Heartland Arts KC. And so Logan, tell me a little bit about your activism. What is it?

Yeah. So Heartland Arts, KC is the nonprofit that I started right out of grad school. We started it in 2020 during the election year. And basically the idea was that not a lot of people are engaged with local politics and that’s a problem. And we think it’s a problem that artists can solve, by telling compelling stories about local issues.

And so we train artists to be familiar with what’s going on in the city and create compelling stories to draw the audience in, one to the story, and then to how easy it is to participate in local democracy.

So social justice, I think, is one of the things that you really have been focused on.

Yes.

I had the privilege of witnessing some of your work just recently. You were with a group of players. Tell me what you were doing.

Yeah. So we are in the middle of our 2024 Heartland Fellowship program. And our fellowship program is our cornerstone program. So each calendar year we select a different cohort of artists, performing artists, and then a different voting issue. And so this year our voting issue is violence prevention. And our cohort; we have the poet laureate of Kansas City, but then we also have some comedians, and then we also have a professional beatboxer.

So every year the cohort all come from different backgrounds in the performing arts. And so what you saw was the first draft of the show that we’re going to perform. (This interview occurred before the show last month).

How do you decide what issue you’re going to take up?

Yeah. so strategically as a nonprofit, you know, we’re in our first few years. This is our third year doing it. And so for the first two years, we were going for like what’s trendy and what will bring in a lot of people. And so in 2022, our focus was houselessness. And then last year we focused on the specific climate protection and resiliency plan, because that was a new piece of policy that had been introduced to the city.

And this year we, chose violence. Well, it started as more of a conversation about the relationship between the city and the police force, because Kansas City is the only major city that doesn’t have control over its police force. We have state control. It started as a conversation about that. But as we brought in speakers and we learned from KC Common Good and the KC 360 program, the violence prevention strategy for city, that policing is just one in a larger web of violence prevention.

So we’ve sort of expanded the scope during the program and have have tackled it that way. And then, of course, we had the incident at the parade that sort of, you know, ignited all of us and and sort of spoke to the urgency of the work. And so we’ve gone all in, in that direction now.

So you follow what’s happening in the city and basically you’re performance art comes from whatever is happening around what people are concerned with. But for you as an artist, how did you decide that you are going to use your art and your knowledge of art and performance as a way of activism? How did you make that connection for yourself?

So I came up in the speech and debate circuit. I went to the Piper High School, and I was the state champion my senior year there. And then I got a scholarship to do speech at Kansas State, and I was a national champion in college. And in the speech and debate world, you know, people are used to debate like you have a topic and then people are like debating against each other.

There’s a winner or loser. Very much like football. On the other hand, we compare it more to track where you have different events and you’re ranked one through six. And so I was doing sort of the public speaking and the acting events and everyone in all of those events comes with a social justice lens.

And so we’re trained to weave our dramatic performances with current events and a knowledge of how this piece speaks to a larger issue. And so I was trained in this, right? And so then I got into NYU, (New York University) for grad school. The Department of Art and Public Policy has a M.A.. ( master’s of arts) in arts politics.

And so I was like, you know, I’m not a good enough actor to get into the acting school. I’m not a good enough writer yet to get into the writing school. But arts politics felt like a good fit for me, and I was able to take electives in the art side and then also continue to hone my understanding of like the relationship between arts and movement and coalition building on the more academic side.

So I’ve always just been able to maintain this artistic practice that’s purely creative and then almost like an academic sense of activism and understanding of history and sociology and political theory and all of that. So I’ve sharpened both of those.

How unique is that thinking, using your art for activism and political movement and social justice movement? How unique is that to the Kansas City area or are there lots of this types of activism in Kansas City?

So I think to answer that question is a matter of understanding sort of just the state of like artistry, but also the role that artists have always played in society. You know, Kansas City, we’re not New York, we’re not Chicago, we’re not Los Angeles. We don’t necessarily have the industry that drives a lot of artists. And so on the other side of that, there is just like the raw heart for I want my work to mean something.

And I think that’s an ethic that is shared with artists all over the world. But what I aspire to do with Heartland is sort of make a way to systematize that and plug people in regardless of what their discipline is and sort of have this program that makes Kansas City that city where it’s like we have this heart, but also we know how to do it, and execute it effectively.

And we’ve had, you know, three years worth of artists come to the program and all of them have really excelled and then gone on to do even more awesome stuff. So it speaks both to the level of artistry that’s here in Kansas City and the heart of the artists here in Kansas City. And then just the value of this program to be able to refine their voice and teach them to use their voice in that way.

So you had to get to this place where you had an interest in social issues. So let’s back up a little bit and talk a little bit about where Logan comes from. I heard you say that you went to Piper High School. So are you originally from Kansas City?

The joke that I say is I’m from Kansas City as much as a McDonald’s cheeseburger is from a cow. Like, kind of. But the more you think about it, not really. So I was born in Texas and then moved to Grain Valley, Missouri, grew up there till I was in like seven and then moved to KCK and then moved out to Piper in like fifth grade.

So, I’ve always bounced around, but I landed in Piper in fifth grade. By the time I was there, you know, I went to Catholic school. At the first school, you know, I was one of the only like black kids there. And so I was like, very aware of, like, race things. I’m mixed.

My parents are different races. So I’ve always had sort of a sensitivity to race and color and just my place in different communities. And so by the time I landed at Piper (Piper Unified School District), which is super diverse, I don’t really think of it. So I’m able to just be friends with sort of everyone. And Piper offered a lot of opportunities with extracurricular.

So very early on I was just like curious and involved and had opportunities to just try stuff. And I think the moment that that turned into an awareness of activism, you know, the Mike Brown shooting was one that sort of put a lot of this into our face. And then that trial was very public. But then we remember, like right after that there is just a ton.

And then it was like the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago. I was at my dad’s house and watching it on the news and they just kept playing the video over and over of him, a violent video just over and over on the news. And I remember that one specifically where I was like, This is so real.

I was old enough to sort of understand what was happening and aware enough with politics because I’m in college at this point. I sort of like start to question things. But then to be confronted with it really lit, you know, really lit an activist fire under me.

Did you relate to these young black men who were being killed all across the country? Did you relate as a young black man to them or was there something else happening for you?

Honestly, no. And I felt guilty about it because there is the Trayvon Martin thing too. He was young. Then I’m like, I’m mixed, you know. I’m light skinned. I have a white mom. Like, I knew like this wasn’t, this wouldn’t have been, I mean, obviously it could happen to me, but I just knew like, it’s very different.

And then I remember having these early conversations, you know, with my family about like Black Lives Matter. And they’re like, well, you know, you got white parents, white grandparents. And I’m like, No, I understand. But fortunately, I was sort of able to unpack this with them. Like, as I’m being introduced to like the invisible knapsack, like, the canonical text about white privilege, like being able to be in a school setting where I’m actually learning this and then being able to explain it to my family.

My family really modeled a healthy way to respond to this. And so I felt safe enough in my identity to be like, you know, I have a black dad, I have black family. But I grew up mostly with my white family here in the city. And not that it’s all about race, but at this point it really felt that way.

But my family was just super responsive to being able to have these conversations and empowering me to find my voice and use my voice. And so I felt secure enough to know that there’s sort of a mixed privilege, you know, where it’s like, I am black so I can talk about these issues and be given a platform for these issues.

But because I’m a little bit lighter skinned, people are less intimidated by me. You know, I’m like tall and skinny and I got fun hair and like, no one’s like, this kid’s going to be a problem. Like, that’s never been something that has been part of my reality. And I just was hyper aware of all of this all at once.

And I was fortunate enough in speech to have a creative outlet to express this competitively, and I was rewarded for being able to analyze this and perform it. It was a poetry piece I did. My junior year of college was about like mixed privilege, and that was one of the first, like nationally competitive and successful performances that I had in my college career.

So, like, I’m processing it in real time, being able to perform it and being like, reaffirmed. And so that whole season was like super pivotal and foundational.

Do you bring that experience, All of those things that you were just describing to me, that mixed privilege, that sense of first feeling a little guilty because you have mixed privilege. Do you bring that to your work, and how much do you bring that to your work?

I don’t know that it comes to the work so much as it informs how I show up. I’m very intentional. Like you look at the artists that we work with, the artists that we work with represent all of Kansas City. I’m saying like super diverse cohorts year after year after year. And I think because of my background and one of my strengths, sort of, to direct them and guide them through this creative process is because of my experience. I’m able to connect with them just on a real human level.

And, you know, my undergrad degree is in relational communication. So like, I studied just how to talk to people and how to connect to people. And my wife, she’s studying psychology now, so I call myself a second hand psychologist and she hates it. But like I’m very aware of just how to connect to people and how to relate to people.

And that’s because of this very multi-ethnic upbringing and multicultural exposure, you know, at Piper and then going to college at K State. But even at college, I’m not going to football games every weekend. I’m like traveling the country to compete in a suit with other 18 to 21 year olds. Unless you’ve been in college speech, it’s like the weirdest thing in the world.

But everyone who’s been in there, we all understand and it’s so foundational in shaping our like young adulthood. I’m still only 27 and I feel like I’ve lived like a whole life before I even, like, graduated college.

While I was watching you guys do your first draft, I noticed that the players, they all seem very young to me. So tell me who your players are. Their ages and you know a little bit more about where they come from. You talked about a beatboxer, which I thought was really interesting, and their role in what ultimately becomes the performance.

Yes. So we had an audition process and this year we had the most applicants of of any other year. And we also got a pretty substantial grant. So this year we were able to go to eight artists instead of six. And yes, so each of them come from different backgrounds.

I’m not sure how old a lot of them are. I haven’t even asked. It wasn’t part of the application, but we have Marcel Daly, who comes from a very like musical instrumental background and even throughout the fellowship, like when you came in, you saw he was on a flight back from New York, did this show and then got on another flight and left town Again.

We have Melissa (Ferrer Civil), who was recently named Kansas City’s poet laureate. And yeah, Melissa is awesome and comes with a very strong grounding in slam poetry. We have Keisha, who describes herself as God’s favorite. She’s a comedian, actress, poet. She does it all and she’s just a light.

And then we have Pierce Williams, who just moved here from Michigan. He’s a rapper and he is so talented. And it’s really interesting because he moved to Kansas City to advance his music career, like, as a rapper. And I’m like, that’s super interesting that Kansas City is starting to become a destination.

And it’s also an honor that someone coming to Kansas City to pursue their career then looks to Heartland to be like this will help me.

We got Luke “Skippy,” Harbour. He is our professional beatboxer. He’s just a blast, super talented. We got Nathan Thomas, who is a comedian in town, and he’s developing a one person show. So he very much has a comedy sensitivity. And you know, I’m trying to challenge him. And so bringing out sort of the dramatic acting chops in him.

We have Tiffany, (Michelle) who is an actress and also does improv with U People Improv, KC’s first and only all black comedy team .

She’s just been sort of the Swiss army knife. She has the writing experience, she has the comedy experience, and she’s very comfortable stepping into like poetry and the music of it all.

And then we have Rylan (Scott Keeling), who is part of the leadership team of KC Poetic Underground, which is one of the larger like slam poetry conglomerates in the city. So, yeah, they all come from different backgrounds.

And they are all different races, as you just explained, and all different talents. And then do you give them the theme and they write the piece?

Yeah. So it’s a 12 week program divided into like four week sections. So the first four weeks was me sort of establishing the norms on sort of just the creative process. So just talking through like story structure, the difference between emotional story versus plot and then talking about scene development and yeah, just different story functions. And then for those first four weeks, we also had an hour dedicated to bringing in people from the community to just teach us about like violence prevention in the city.

So we spoke to, you know, representatives from public health, from the city to talk about like the city’s plan to combat violence. We talked to Reverend Falconer from KC Common Good, who gave a lot of like heart and emotional context to like the grassroots side of it. And then Kyle Hollands from Lyrik’s Institution came and spoke and talked about his background and the work that he does with understanding criminality as a mindset and like putting us in the perspective of what gets a young person to commit crime. It’s not just like kids just wake up and want to shoot into a crowd. Like, the point that he made was, to be able to, one, carry a gun in public, to pull it, and then three, shoot it. That’s, that’s muscle memory, you know what I’m saying? And that’s a cognition. And so he talked a lot about sort of the mental aspect of violence. And so then they (the actors) turn that into pieces.

And so what I saw seemed to be you guys dealing with young people, violence and school violence and also perceptions and misperceptions about who commits that violence and how they are treated differently depending on the color of their skin.

Yes. So what you saw, we sort of broke the story like you would in a writer’s room. You know, every story has sort of these eight scenes, these eight moments. We start there and then they were each assigned to just write a scene. And some wrote a song, some wrote an actual like scene or dialog, some wrote raps.

So they were all just assigned, you know, write your scene, but don’t talk to each other. And so what you saw was them telling this story that we all have a similar understanding of, but with no connective tissue. And so it was really interesting to see how without really discussing what the narrative throughline would be, one emerged.

That was really powerful. So then where do you perform this? Who gets to see this and how do you know that the activism is working?

Yes. So this year we’ve been blessed with a partnership with Starlight Theater through their arts bridge program that they’re piloting as part of their like $40 million capital campaign. So they’ve opened their space up to us. So we’re out of the education pavilion.

Last year we rented space out of Kansas City young audiences and the year before we were doing it out of the basement of my church. So we’ve grown over the three years. At the end of each show, we do like a talk back so that the audience can interact with the artists.

So this comes together pretty quickly.

Yeah, 12 weeks from strangers to a full production.

And are people creating, you know, a scene or is it just an open bare stage?

Yeah. So it’s look different every year. The first year was at a municipal theater building, and that year we had like, yeah, a whole stage. And so we used like light projection and stuff to sort of tell the story. And we brought out set pieces, you know, we’re in costume and everything.

And then last year was more like intricate lighting design and yeah, like music and everything and more multi-modal storytelling. And so this year, given the space, yeah, I mean we can do a lot with projection, we can do a lot with sets.

And also built into the program are like a work in progress show. So we’ll present this script, but we’ll get feedback from the city to be like, is this honest? Is this authentic, Is this true to Kansas City? And then we have four weeks. That last four weeks is a revision period based off the feedback we get from the community.

Then we perform it again and have another talk back. One of our things is like, do you know your council person is one of the first questions we always lead with. What voting district you live? That is always a question that we try to lead with too to draw people into the conversation.

And we also have like materials that we give the audience, like instead of like a program. It’s like, here’s organizations doing the work, here’s different interest areas, here’s what we’ve learned during this 12 weeks. And so our audience is given the tools. But in the talk back, you know, we’ve heard people say like, this has inspired me to register to vote.

And so I think thus far the success has been tracked in our growth as an organization and in the recognition that we’ve gotten from, not just the city but around the world. We were awarded with this international grant from the We Are Family Foundation. And so, yeah, like the work has been speaking for itself. And so now this year we are trying to think of like how do we add that data piece into it and you know, survey the audience and get more of that hard data.

Why do you do this? Why does Logan do this? What is it about you that makes you want to make a difference in this way?

So I was in New York after grad school and I got plugged in with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. They were doing a program at Columbia Law School where they were bringing in Broadway actors to work with law school students, to work with community leaders. And that was the first time I’d sort of seen work like this model.

I was like, Kansas City needs this because, you know, this was like 2019, 2020, before COVID. I was like, People are going to start coming to Kansas City. Like, we got Patrick Mahomes. Like, we’re about to win a bunch of Super Bowls. And I was right. Like, I knew people were going to start coming to Kansas City.

When people start coming to a new city, that means that the artistry is just going to expand. And we have a really strong infrastructure for the visual arts in the city. And we’re the second biggest theater town, theater city, in the Midwest, next to Chicago. And we have a lot of talent. But I didn’t feel like, at the time, Kansas City had like an identity in the same way.

You know, when you go to Chicago, you know, you got to go see a comedy show. If you go to New York, you know, you got to go to Broadway. Like we don’t necessarily have that here. We have institutions. But just like as a culture, what are people striving for? And that’s why a lot of like young, talented people leave to these other cities.

And so I wanted to, one, be a leader and just build infrastructure for like artists to stay here. Artists can build community around their art, artists can see that their work is impacting people. That’s my way of trying to effect change. I want to effect change in the city because it’s going to grow.

And if there’s not leadership guiding that growth, then it can turn into something it doesn’t need to be in Kansas City. So communal and familial. But at the same time, there’s a lot of divisions. We have, you know, the KC Rep, but then there’s the KC Black Rep (The Black Repertory Theater of Kansas City) and then, you know, there’s a lot of racial lines that divide Kansas City.

So I don’t want Heartland to be that. I want it to be artists of any background, of any discipline, who can come work together and drive towards a better Kansas City.

Interesting. I know that music is really powerful and that music moves people. A lot of activism happens through music, especially in the sixties.

Yeah.

I hadn’t really thought of theater in that way, but that same passion that we hear in music that moves us, that is that’s similar to what you’re hoping or what happens when you sit in a theater and watch a band of players act out what’s happening in the world.

Yeah, yeah. I kind of make the comparison that like if you put the public policy process and the storytelling process on a Venn diagram, it’s like almost a circle because a problem is presented, problem is reacted to, and either you fix the problem and it’s a comedy or you don’t, and it’s a tragedy. And that same process plays out in the public policy space as it does in the theater.

And so, you know, if you can get people to understand that public policy is really just the storytelling together of our community and that city council is the writers room it really removes sort of that barrier of entry of like this overwhelming thing.

Our council reps want more than 13% of the city to vote, like we want people to be engaged. And it’s just finding ways to meet them where they’re at and provide language that isn’t so like hard to comprehend.

Thank you, Logan, for being with us. This is really powerful stuff. I was very moved watching you guys just do your first draft.

Thank you. Follow us on social media at Heartland Arts KC.