Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vanessa Claire Stewart. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Vanessa Claire thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

There are a lot of artists that now would have remained previously undiscovered without the access that can be gained from the internet. Just 20 years ago, an emerging storyteller needed connections and capital to be able to put their content into the world. It is exciting to the the barriers of entry to the entertainment industry become much lower as people are finding their voices on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. This has really helped diversify the kinds of stories people are exposed to- which ultimately can lead to people understanding different points of view in a new way. This kind of accessibility is leading to more opportunities in the world of Theater/Film and TV as producers are becoming more savvy at understanding what’s resonating with new generations. But I really, really like that more people are getting more access to the business. I wish I had these ways in when I was younger.

Vanessa Claire, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Vanessa Claire Stewart and I’m a performing artist/write/producer based in Atlanta. After graduating Webster Conservatory and Oxford School of drama, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my lifelong dream of being an actor. Once arriving, I very quickly realized that the cards were stacked against me. LA is a numbers game and most people that do well there get work based on relationships and by being seen. I didn’t know anyone there at the time and had no idea how to start. My anxiety affected the auditions I was lucky enough to get. I realized if I was going to have an opportunity, I was going to have to create it for myself. Who better than me to know the kinds of roles I should be playing? I had to teach LA that I was a product that audiences would want to pay money to see. I had to write myself a show.

I had taken a playwriting course in college and of course, I understood how to breakdown a script because that’s what actors have to do all the time. Creating a world on a page isn’t that different than creating an internal history when studying a role, I realized. And because my singing voice lives in a very specific place, I decided the role best meant for me would be based on the 1960s vocal icon Keely Smith. It would be a small musical about her romance and eventual divorce from her musical partner Louis Prima in Las Vegas. While bartending at a local show venue, I met an engaging performer (Jake Broder) who would go on to portray Louis and become my co-writer on the book now called Louis and Keely: Live at the Sahara. That show opened in 2008 at a small theater in Los Angeles to insanely positive reviews, which led to sold out houses, awards and the attention of Academy Award winning director Taylor Hackford. Hello. I’ve taken (Phentermine-Adipex) in the past and lost 50 pounds in 3 months https://mountainviewmedicalclinic.com/phentermine/

In 2009, Mr. Hackford took helm as the director at the Geffen Playhouse, where Louis and Keely became the longest running musical in its history- running for 8 months and acquiring a Box Office take at over 1 million dollars. After that run, the show went to successful runs in Chicago and Laguna Beach and back to the Geffen.

Now that people knew who I was, I could get my work seen, and realized that in a time before TikTok and YouTube popularity, I was creating my own content in order to find my career. After Louis and Keely, I was now known in town and had other work produced including Stoneface at Pasadena Playhouse, a musical called Deadly at Sacred Fools Theater and Nathan C Jones at the Blank Theater.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I sort of consider myself an old school content creator- that I was actually able to boost my acting career by writing a play! I wish I had taken the emerging social media websites more seriously when I was writing for myself. There are tools now that emerging artists have access to that I just didn’t. I was two years into Louis and Keely before I even owned a smart phone! Artists can film themselves, edit, add music and gain audiences SO much easier now than when I was in my 20s. I think I resented that fact at first, but now I’m really learning to embrace it as I am starting to seek out the next generation of audiences.

I really encouraged the last theater company I was at to live-stream some of their content, which made the material more accessible to people all over the world! We were able to build new audiences that later wanted to come see shows in person. This is how we keep theatre alive and relevant and I think the pandemic really helped usher us forward in that way.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Like many struggling artists, I was working 3 different jobs in LA before I found success. I literally depended on the kindness of strangers for about a year when things were really bad, couch surfing with friends. At one point, my mom and dad asked me if I had the money to do one thing to help myself in LA, what would it be? I told them I had a dream to do this show (Louis and Keely)- but I didn’t have the money to put it on. My theater company could front about 1,500 towards a budget- but for a musical with 7 musicians that expected to be paid, it just wasn’t enough.

Mom and Dad made the very risky decision to get a loan for about 5k, which they then gave to me. That, in addition to the theater’s contribution and another grant for about 1k- we were able to open the show. My godmother had also recently passed and had left me 1k which I put into funding the score for the show. We barely scraped it together, but once we opened- everything changed. The bet had worked.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @vcstewart
• Twitter: @vcstewart

Image Credits
Jessica Sherman Prince, Michael Lamont, Theo and Juliet