Christine McMurdo McMurdo-Wallis

Please note: I no longer put the "h" in Cristine....long story! So, if you try to find me on Facebook or email me, it will only get to me as "Cristine"....aargh....

After high school, started college at PLU.....left after the first year, because I couldn't stand being locked in the Dorm every night. Went to UW for a quarter and then decided I was going to LEARN FROM LIFE and be a Free Spirit. And then I got an offer from a Summer Stock Company in Colorado, went , loved it (did Luther with Nick Nolte, second season did Tartuffe with Katherine Houghten
(Katherine Hepburn's niece....."Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".) Graduated from The University of Northern Colorado. Moved to Santa Fe , met a Novelist/journalist/ Adventurer, married him , we moved to Texas where he got a job on a large newspaper. At first as the Features Editor and I did his photography....great fun! then he started covering ax murders and I resigned as his photographer. Finally we ended up in Austin.....I co-ran a theatre on 6th St. - Center Stage - on a CETA Grant (remember when the Government supported the Arts? Sigh.) Michael and I divorced, I was moving to New York. But....first I decided to spend a month in Hawaii and "get my soul in shape". I stayed five years....worked with Honolulu Theatre for Youth, got grants to tour all the islands with one- woman shows , taught workshops in residence in the schools , lived in a teeny tiny cottage on glorious lanikai Beach. Finally, after five years, I was Going to Move to New York! BUT, Came back to Seattle to see my folks, started getting hired at the Rep, at ACT, the Group, SCT, Seattle Shakes, Oregon Shakes, did 4 months at Alaska Rep, yada, yada,Yada.( my first job in Seattle was for Rob Hunt at The Village!) On a lark, I accepted a contract in St. Petersburg , Florida to do the American Premiere of "Mrs. Klein" over Christmas.....met Thomas Eldon Anderson at a New Years Eve Party (1st person I kissed in 1992!) and that was it! We stayed with the Company for another season, got engaged the following November and finally...MOVED TO NEW YORK. (The engagement lasted 12 years.....it was a very good Engagement!) (finally married in 2004)... lived in NYC for 13 years . I had wonderful luck, did some off- Broadway ( one with Al Pacino), narrated for Recorded Books whenever I was in town (I could read y'all bedtime stories!) Mostly, I was out of town at Wonderul Regional theatres, ACT in San Francisco for a year, back to the Intiman and that show transferred to the Mark Taper in LA, back to Seattle Rep, The Huntington in Boston, Coconut Grove in Miami, Princeton, Philadelphia, Denver Center.....many more. Tom got into disaster management after 9/11.... Was at St Paul's feeding the 1st responders for three months, eventually got an offer to consult for 6 weeks at a Disaster Management Company in Baton Rouge .....and that was ten years ago. I finally moved down in 2006, sold the NYC apt and there we are in Louisiana! (It's a little like a foreign country.....y'know, we're still part of the United States, but they still hold their traditions and their language and their music close....much like Hawaii, except without the beach and more hurricanes). I work in New Orleans a lot,mostly on new scripts, and there's a wonderful Union Theatre in BR. I still go up to Maine every year to work with Portland Stage, and to a theatre in Houston, but really don't travel like I used to. And that's rather nice, most of the time. All in all, it's been a great and varied 50 years !

Yes