By Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine Staff

We had a ginger beer and chatted like it had been only yesterday that we were teasing wigs backstage! Meet Simone, another incredible Queer Thespian!

SO Simone… we met as crazy drag queens many moons ago… so tell me about when the seed was planted!

I’ve been an entertainer my entire life. Learning to make people laugh was a part of navigating existence for me, and I loved the payoff. I am also the older brother to three, so I quickly became a pied piper of sorts, and that often included putting on little shows for our parents. Naturally, I was drawn to the performing arts, storytelling, and spectacle throughout high school and college, and always found my community under the stage lights. It was when I joined a burlesque troupe around 2014/15 that I started getting into the cabaret scene, and the idea for ClueX, my burlesque parody of the classic film, began to form.

You have always been writing! What do you enjoy writing most? DRAMA? COMEDY? Farce?

Photo of Simone by Marcia Davis

I love to write comedy the most, possibly because of my great lack of patience. With comedy you get that immediate feedback with laughter (or lack thereof!) to let you know if you’re on the right track. And I love hearing people laugh at a joke I’ve written. Comedy can also cut quickly to the core of the matter, without the need for long, winding character development and context to push an idea. I like using comedy, especially satire, to critique and expose the world around me, and I don’t have to neatly pack it into a drama with everything else. All I need is a setup and a punchline.

Inspiration?

Music is my greatest inspiration. I love listening to music and letting it lead me down a path of ideas to see where it goes. The movie Clue has also inspired me throughout my entire life. The witty, fast-paced dark humor felt like a language I didn’t know I was fluent in, and something about Tim Curry and the rest of that iconic cast made me feel seen. My co-producer on ClueX, Jason Bennett, is also inspirational. He has so much talent, skill, and vision, and he is one of the hardest-working artists I have ever met.

And life is happening now, in front of you!

It’s all about my show ClueX right now! I have created it, written it, directed it, and now I am producing it and performing in it. This show is my baby! I love it, and I love how much it entertains people. No one leaves this show with a frown. With this kind of venture, there is so much to do, especially getting people to buy a ticket after putting it all together. I’ve got all kinds of ideas ready to go once I have some breathing room.

A queer theater scene in VEGAS? True or False

There is a theatre scene in Vegas for sure. Three local professional companies, and a couple of community theatres, do most of the heavy lifting to keep the art form afloat. There are many gifted artists and playmakers in town, and everyone knows each other. What we don’t have as much is a theatre-going scene. There are a couple of million people in this town, but with all the glitz, glam, and LED screens everywhere, the stage struggles to vie for attention.

Do we have a queer theatre scene? I wouldn’t say there is much of a queer-specific creation and content. The scene isn’t big enough to support it. For queer performance art, I think we are still relegated to gay bars.

ClueX absolutely stands out as the queerest show in Vegas, which may be part of the friction it feels with this largely hetero-city.

What challenges have you faced?

Producing without a doubt is the biggest challenge (and it is exacerbated by my wearing all the other hats as well). Firstly, I am an artist, so business is not my forte. Secondly, trying to rise above the din in this city is so difficult, especially as it becomes a sports-consuming hellscape. There is certainly a resurgence of interest in burlesque, and I’m hoping that we can be one show that helps scratch that itch! This is a local-made, local-funded, artist-forward show; no nepotism, no celebrity, no million-dollar backer! I’m having a very rude awakening as a Producer…good thing actually being in the show is so fun, or I might not have made it this far!

Go to ClueXtheShow.com for more information and tickets to ClueX!

This article was originally published in the 2026 Summer, Arts & Entertainment issue of Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine, and can be read in its original format here.