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Reading and Discussion with Author Christine Barker
Third Girl from the Left
As a middle child in a large military family, Christine just wants to dance. Her parents support her dreams, even if they seem beyond their comprehension. At 20, determined and talented, Christine heads across the country from Santa Fe to New York City and, in a made for-Hollywood story, is chosen for the London cast of A Chorus Line.
While unwilling to fully cut ties with the traditional life her parents envision for her, she finds a new family with the dancers and more fluid, open characters that fill the theater world in London, and later New York, in the ‘70s & ‘80s. Christine learns that one member of her family is equally at home in her new world: Laughlin, her older brother—divorced, a father, ex-military and a corporate lawyer—also makes his way to New York City, where he meets, and begins to build a life, with rising fashion star Perry Ellis. The two men enjoy a partnership and a financial success that Christine both admires. and envies.
She spends much of her free time in their Upper West Side brownstone and Water Island retreat. Soon everyone is talking about a mysterious new disease. As deaths of dancers, theater folk, and eventually friends start to mount, Christine realizes she’s in the middle of an epidemic that neither her traditional family nor the public at large is ready to reckon with. As the AIDS crisis cuts closer and closer, eventually impacting those she loves most, Christine does what she has always done: she strikes her own path.
This memoir is an emotional, honest examination of what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of New York theater, how hard-won dreams can be quickly lost, what it means to redefine family, and the devastating toll AIDS exacted on a generation of artists.
“A beautifully written memoir of life on the Broadway stage at the onset of the 1980s AIDS epidemic . . . Compelling, and remarkably hopeful.” —Mara Liasson, National Political Correspondent, NPR
About the Author
Christine Barker has always considered Santa Fe her home, although she has spent most of her adult life on the east coast. In 1968, the year she graduated from Santa Fe High School, she proudly represented Santa Fe and the state of New Mexico in the America’s Junior Miss Pageant, a national contest that provided college scholarships to finalists. In the nationally televised contest, Ms. Barker won the Third-Runner Up title. After attending UCLA for two years, she ventured to New York City to pursue her dream of a career in theater and dance. After working in summer stock, dinner theater, and national tours, she eventually landed her dream job when she was hired for the London production of the Tony award-winning A Chorus Line. From London, she toured the United States with the show, and eventually joined the Broadway cast. Over the course of her Broadway career, she also appeared in numerous national television commercials.
Life in New York changed when the AIDS epidemic claimed the life of her older brother Laughlin, his companion Perry Ellis, and many close Broadway friends and colleagues. After their deaths, she retired from the theater and turned her professional sights to her next dream – to be a published author. She went back to school and earned an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction at Sarah Lawrence College. Ms. Barker is married, has two children, and divides her time between Santa Fe and a home in Connecticut. In addition to working on her own projects, she teaches writing to high school students.
Learn more at https://christinebarkerwriter.com/
