Groundbreaking star of stage and screen Ali Stroker will perform Sunday, April 27, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Stroker made history as the first actress in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway when she originated the role of Anna in Deaf West’s acclaimed 2015 revival of “Spring Awakening.” In 2019, Stroker became the first actor in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award when she won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Ado Annie in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”
Stroker will sing Broadway standards and contemporary hits accompanied by a pianist. She will also sing a song with students from an ArtPlay/UAB Arts in Medicine collaborative musical theater class taught by Alie B. Gorrie.
The performance is set for 7 p.m. in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children and students. For tickets, visit AlysStephens.org or the ASC Box Office, or call 205-975-2787. Buy tickets.
This performance is part of the UAB Disability Arts Festival, celebrating artists from the disability community. The festival is presented by the UAB Center for the Arts and UAB Arts in Medicine, in partnership with local and state organizations serving the disability community.
A car accident as a young child left Stroker paralyzed from the waist down. She is the first actress in a wheelchair to graduate from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts drama program. She starred on 12 episodes of the talent competition “The Glee Project,” where she placed second and won a guest role on Fox’s “Glee.”
Stroker recurred in the Kyra Sedgwick ABC series “Ten Days in the Valley” and guest starred on Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” and CBS’ “Instinct.” She earned a Barrymore Award nomination for starring as Olive Ostrovsky in “The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
Stroker was a series regular on the Netflix show “Echoes,” starred in the Lifetime holiday film “Christmas Ever After,” and recurred in the final season of Netflix’s “Ozark” and in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” She was seen opposite Matthew Broderick in “Babbitt” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., and as Lady Anne in the Shakespeare in the Park production of “Richard III.” In addition to her work on and off Broadway, she has performed solo at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., New York’s The Town Hall, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall. Stroker has performed her one-woman show across the country.
Stroker’s exceptional ability to improve the lives of others through the arts, disabled or not, is captured in her motto, “Turning Your Limitations Into Your Opportunities.” A humanitarian and advocate, Stroker has been a co-chair of Women Who Care, which supports United Cerebral Palsy of New York City. She is a founding member of Be More Heroic, an anti-bullying campaign that toured the country connecting with thousands of students each year. Her devotion to educating and inspiring others brought Stroker to South Africa with ARTS InsideOut, where she held theater workshops and classes for women and children affected by HIV and AIDS.
The UAB Disability Arts Festival provides a platform for people with disabilities to share their stories and perspectives and highlight the work of nationally recognized artists across all genres who are members of the disability community. The goal is to promote understanding and accessibility, raise awareness of health disparities, and invite policymakers to discuss issues that affect quality of life for disabled individuals across Alabama.