From the Edinburgh Fringe to the New York stage - former Linslade Middle pupil making waves in theatrical world
A former pupil at Linslade Middle School is making big waves in the theatrical world during a busy year that is set to see her direct at the Edinburgh Fringe and appear on stage in New York.
Chloe Champken, who currently lives in the United States, but still has family in Leighton Buzzard, grew up in Eaton Bray, and was set on her career path thanks to a former headteacher at Linslade Middle School.
“I was always keen on drama and it was the school’s headteacher Mr Bird who got me on to a gifted and talented programme,” Chloe told the LBO.
“Mr Bird encouraged me to audition for a scholarship at Berkhamsted Collegiate School, where I was awarded a 90 per cent bursary scholarship.
“If wasn’t for him, I would never have gone to Berkhamsted, and then that gave opportunities to go to drama school in London, and then New York.”
Chloe recalls how she was ‘a talkative child that got distracted a lot’, adding: “I liked playing the class clown. Doing drama and musical theatre as a child helped me channel a lot of the energy I had.”
One of Chloe’s current projects is with Joe Staton, who she first met in New York in 2021, and who has written a play entitled Snazzy, which is inspired by the achievements of his parents Lauren and Paul.
While working at a Butlins’ holiday centre in the 1980s, Lauren founded Snazaroo, which has since gone on to become a global face-painting brand.
It is described as a 90-minute dramedy and is based on A Snazzy Tale, a book written by Lauren, which explores the relationships that helped to forge the business and covers love, loss, entrepreneurship, and perseverance.
Chloe has been chosen as the director of Snazzy, which is being performed at the LATEA Theater in New York in July.
“Joe took a chance with me, and gave me my first directing role,” she said.
“I have directed a lot of Joe’s projects, and I know that he has been wanting to adapt his mum’s book for years.
“I am very excited to direct this show. The cast have had the scripts for a few months now and we will have a good five or six weeks of rehearsals, starting in June.
“It will be great for me to have the original creator in the room, and I am hoping that during the rehearsals we will be able to use different spaces to work on bringing this play to life.”
Chloe and Joe are also both company members of the Ensemble Shakespeare Company and will appear together in Julius Caesar this summer at The Flea Theater in Manhattan, a show in which Chloe is doubling up as associate director.
In August, Chloe is also directing her friend Michael Reid’s one-man show entitled Safety, which is running throughout this year’s edition of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Last year Chloe and Michael co-founded Crowded Space, a new British Theatre company in New York.
It all adds up to a very busy diary, although it should come as no surprise, as in a 2025 interview with Celebrity Online magazine Chloe said when asked what advice she would give: ‘You can sleep when you are dead - grind until you can grind no more!”