For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we are interviewing a creator that formed the biggest theater community on Clapper: Diva Las Vegas. 

@DivaLasVegas is an actress, singer, and director on Clapper. She comes from a long history of being involved in the performing arts and she has brought her talents to this app and got the community involved. Diva Las Vegas is the creator of #ClapperTheater, an initiative to create plays on Clapper Radio and cast creators virtually. This movement has given a platform to many aspiring actors and actresses or creators who enjoy being part of something bigger than themselves. In this interview, she talked about the challenges of directing plays online, the importance of learning your lines and so much more. 

Keep reading this Deep Dive Series to find out more about this creator’s fantastic story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Talks.

Deep Dive into this amazing creator’s story!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life?

I work at home, thank goodness. My shift starts at 5 am. I am also hanging out at Clapper all day long. I am very quiet on livestreams because they know that’s when I am working. After I get off work, I usually take a nice long nap. Then, I get on Clapper again and hang out until I have to go work at the haunted house. I run the asylum and we have a ball.

How did you get into acting? Tell us about your theater background.

For the most part, I’ve been involved in some sort of performing arts all my life. Whether it is music, dancing, gymnastics, or theater. I’ve kind of been a part of all of it. It wasn’t really until college that I got interested in theater. I was a dance major, but we always put on spring and fall musicals, which also included acting. I got to sing and dance at the same time. Then, when I had my daughter I raised her on musicals. Then she went to college and majored in theater and now she’s actually getting her first paying acting job after graduation. 

What was the first play you ever directed? How was that experience?

The first play I directed on Clapper was called Canceled. Directing felt new, but at the same time I knew how to do it. I do owe it to Rooster because he was the one who pushed me into that direction. I was on Clapper just hanging out and he learned about me, so he brought that suggestion to create plays on Clapper. We became a huge family and we keep doing it.

You have produced a few plays on your clapper account! Tell us about the challenges in casting and directing a virtual play.

The challenge is the schedule. Everybody being able to commit to rehearsals and be there. Obviously nobody gets paid to do this, so we are just working on the fact that they enjoy it. There are times where actors can’t be there and I have to scramble and see if I got an understudy ready to take over. That’s the challenge.

What do you enjoy more: acting or directing? If it’s both what do you love about each one?

I do like both. When I am acting I get to be somebody else and completely bring that character to life. When I am directing, I do feel more comfortable because I know what I see in my head and I am able to bring that to life. Being on Clapper, all I have is voices to go by. When I read the script and characters and people come to audition, if I hear the voice for that character that’s who’s getting the part. 

We, the clapper team already love drama. So, Can you give us some tips for good acting?

First, learning the script. Even though, here at clapper, everybody has their script in front of them. There is a different between reading the script and actually becoming the character. We always stress: learn your lines. Know them by heart. Don’t worry if you make a mistake, you just keep going! Improvise if you want to. Just make sure that the words on the script are portrayed in the same light.

So, When did you join Clapper? How did your journey as a creator begin?

I started doing floral designs in social media, it was just a bunch of static pictures I would put together. That didn’t go the way I planned it, so I went into the next thing which was my singing. I make videos of my singing here now. I came over from TikTok and I made so many friends here, so I just wanted to hang out. At first, I wasn’t one to make videos or go live, and then in July, I had a successful video about my cats. I got excited. After getting to know other creators, I started Clapper Theater with Rooster. 

What made you create the initiative for #ClapperTheater? How do you feel this hashtag can help creatives?

I want it to bring creators to the theater and showcase their talents. There are a lot of actors out here. I would love for all of them to audition to any show we put out there. Becoming part of a Clapper family. That’s the main thing we imagined when creating this hashtag. We wanted to bring creators that would have never met each other without Clapper Theater.

What advice would you give new users that want to be successful on Clapper?

Just be active. Make videos, go to the For You page and watch other people’s videos. Be active as far as that goes. Find your niche. Whatever you love to do find it, create it and get people involved. 

Hope you enjoy getting to know Diva Las Vegas. For our latest deep-dive on @JennieGProject, read here.