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# Actor Allport Traces a Restless Path From Boston Childhood to Stage
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/christine-chang-news-smdp-com-reeling-in-the-years-christopher-allports-late-father-was-a-hero-during-world-war-ii-who-left-the-family-allports-one-ma/
- Published: 2007-01-29T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:09:00.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Christine Chang*

ACTING OUT OF EXPERIENCE Born in Boston and raised with three younger sisters in a broken family, Allport had moved a dozen times around the East Coast before graduating from high school.

Allport latched on to acting in the midst of all the change and lack of attention.

At 9, Allport joined the children’s theatre in New Canaan, Conn., dreaming of becoming a musical star.

“The theater provides a community that was sort of your family,” Hayden said.“All of a sudden, you have these friends because it’s so personal. It bonds you.”

Allport dropped out of Northwestern University during the summer between his sophomore and junior years and moved to New York to study acting with Lee Strasbourg.

“That’s when the draft board came after me,” Allport said.

Allport avoided the draft by returning to Northwestern. But the advent of the lottery and Allport’s graduation led the FBI to jump on his trail once again.

> “There’s something exhilarating about that.”

> “It’s real. It’s personal. It’s not bullshit at all.” — created,” Hayden said. Allport echoed that sentiment. Allport said

> “It’s a huge step for me,”

Allport decided to live on the road for a while, hitchhiking across the country six times during his early 20s, effectively dodging the draft by refusing to keep still.

“I wanted to be on the road, and I wanted to be an actor,” Allport said. “I just didn’t know how or what shape it would take.”

During this time, Allport said he matured and gathered experiences that molded his identity as an actor.

“The irony is that he was evading the war, but he ended up going on the road and coming of age on the road and finding out who he was through his own set of terrifying experiences,” Hayden said.

THE ADVENTURE OF ACTING Hayden, a playwright who met Allport 17 years ago, said she and her husband spent a number of years developing Allport’s experiences with his father, hitchhiking and the draft into a play.

“Our relationship works best when we’re working together creatively,” Hayden said. “What I love about this project is we’re taking three of his best skills — acting, writing and musicianship — and creating this show.”

In his free time, Allport rock climbs at Joshua Tree, surfs and kayaks. He brings this sense of adventure back to the stage.

The play draws upon Allport’s ability to create experiences for the audience that bring them into an exciting journey of acting.

“You can touch people, and you have these wonderful moments when the things you work on come alive,”Allport said.“As an actor, my responsibility is to keep that spark alive.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 29, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/012907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)