Creator to Creators S7 Ep 101 Joe Staton The Snazaroo Story

Filmmaker Meosha Bean sits down with actor and producer Joe Staton, writer and entrepreneur Lauren Staton, and director Chloe Champken following their recent BBC feature highlighting their upcoming stage productionlink --BBC new articleThe conversation explores the origins of Snazaroo and Lauren’s journey building a globally recognized brand, alongside the personal story that inspired her memoir A Snazzy Tale. The Project:In the 1980s, my parents founded Snazaroo, the first major face-painting company. Their products have since achieved global distribution and recognition. My mother later sold the company in 2004, and my father passed away in 1997.Around 2018/2019, my mother authored a book titled A Snazzy Tale, which chronicles her journey. Inspired by her story, I have written a stage play based on the book. The production is scheduled to premiere at the New York Theatre Festival this summer, with plans to bring it to England in the future. There are also ongoing discussions to adapt the play for the screenBioLauren Staton is a British entrepreneur and writer best known for co-founding Snazaroo, the globally recognised face-painting brand she built from the ground up in 1984, authoring six face-painting manuals before selling the company in 2004. She has since turned her storytelling instincts to the written word, capturing the Snazaroo journey in her memoir A Snazzy Tale, and continues to channel her entrepreneurial spirit through Daadi Organics, a social enterprise empowering women in Jaipur through sustainable fashion.Joe Staton is a British actor and producer based in New York City, currently making his debut as a playwright with Snazzy  a stage adaptation of his mother Lauren Staton's memoir about co-founding Snazaroo, the globally recognised face-painting brand. Presented by RiffRaff NYC, the company he co-founded and co-directs, Snazzy premieres at the New York Theatre Festival this July. A classically trained actor with credits spanning Shakespeare, Chekhov, and new work across New York and regional theatre, Joe trained at Italia Conti in London and the Stella Adler Studio in New York, and is a company member of Ensemble Shakespeare Company. This summer he’ll appear in Ensemble’s production of Julius Caesar. Snazzy marks his most personal project to date.Chloe Champken is a British director and actor based in New York City, whose work spans new writing, classical theatre, and the Edinburgh Fringe. A graduate of drama school in London and New York, Chloe co-founded Crowded Space, a British theatre company in New York, and is a company member of Ensemble Shakespeare Company, where she also serves as associate director on this summer's Julius Caesar at The Flea. Her ongoing creative partnership with Joe Staton has taken in productions including Knock Knock and The Rainmaker, and she now takes the helm on Snazzy bringing the remarkable true story of Snazaroo to the New York stage for the first time. In August she heads to Edinburgh to direct Michael Reid's one-man show Safety at the Fringe, making 2026 a landmark year for one of British theatre's most exciting emerging directors.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/creator-to-creators-with-meosha-bean--4460322/support.