{"id":2,"date":"2022-09-07T17:32:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T17:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/layers\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-10-27T19:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T23:59:58","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/avilachristine\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChristineI have worked as a actor, singer and dancer for over 50 years.\u00a0 Along the way I have\u00a0 also worked as a Director of Music at a church, an educator at various major universities.\u00a0 I have worked in Dept of Corrections, State of California and once worked in the \u201cMotor Room\u201d for Symplicity Pattern Company, New York (1968).<\/span><\/p>\n

My parents families crossed the border at El Paso, Texas about 1919. They were fleeing the unrest in Mexico at that time.\u00a0 Both families landed in copper mining towns in Arizona but they never knew each other until years later in Los Angeles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My parents met at Roosevelt High School became \u201csweethearts\u2026\u201das my Mom would tell it. They married in the 1940s.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May of 1947, my dad was a young obstetrician and his wife was in labor.\u00a0 He was getting exceedingly nervous waiting at the hospital and so his friends took him to a baseball game.\u00a0 One of his colleagues would call between innings to find out how his wife was doing.\u00a0 I arrived\u00a0 \u201dhome\u201d sometime between the 7th and the 9th inning. It was an Angels game.<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up near Tommy\u2019s Hamburger Stand \u2013 the Original Tommy\u2019s, near Rampart and Temple.\u00a0 There used to be a bright blue and yellow Richfield Gas Station at the corner, across the street.\u00a0 I loved the colors of that gas station and remember driving around it on my blue Schwinn bike in the 50s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My first teacher, Miss Lucy Drew Austin, ran a preschool in the neighborhood. There,\u00a0 I studied piano and ballet along with\u00a0 reading, writing and arithmetic.\u00a0 Miss Austin cast me as the \u201cinnkeeper\u201d in our Christmas pageant.\u00a0 My first cue was , \u201c..are you the keeper of this inn?\u201d.\u00a0 My response was, \u201cYes I am sire, how may I serve you?\u201d. I remember having a difficult time remembering my cue and line, but I still remember it today.<\/p>\n

In High School, I joined the theatre club, the Genesians.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, St Genesius is the patron saint\u00a0 of Actors.\u00a0 I still ask for his help.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my senior year, along with History, Chemistry, Civics and so forth, I was assigned to direct\u00a0\u00a0Winnie<\/strong> the Pooh<\/strong>.\u00a0 My scenic\/tech designer, Gilberta Avila (no relation),\u00a0 figured out how to make it appear that Winnie the Pooh got stuck in a hole in a tree after eating too much honey \u2013 all on stage.\u00a0 It was great and got a good laugh.\u00a0 We are still friends to this day and I am still grateful to her for her invention.<\/p>\n

In High School I was also cast in As You Like it (Rosalind)<\/strong>.\u00a0 I loved it and the rest is, as they say, theatre history.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cYou are as good as anyone on the bench\u201d
\n\u2014 Amelia G. Avila<\/p>\n