Paper Mill Trained NJ Actress Up For Tony Award Sunday

MILLBURN, NJ - Ridgewood's Ali Stroker, an alumna of the Summer Professional Training Program at Paper Mill Playhouse, is competing for her first Tony award Sunday for her performance as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of "Oklahoma!"

According to their website, since its inception in 1996, the Paper Mill Playhouse Summer Musical Theater Conservatory and the New Voices Concert have ignited the careers of many notable performers. Among the Conservatory alumni are Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), Tony Award winners Laura Benanti (Gypsy) and Nikki M. James (The Book of Mormon), Tony nominee Rob McClure (Chaplin), Jelani Remy (Disney’s The Lion King), Shanice Williams, star of NBC’s The Wiz Live!, and Olivier Award nominee Jared Gertner (The Book of Mormon).

The program now counts Stroker among that distinguished list. Stroker's production has been called "ambitious" and "entertaining" as it purports to have a new twist on the classic tale. And Stroker's performance led to a Tony nomination.

Stroker spoke to Variety recently about her career, Tony Nomination, and acting style.

"This show doesn't necessarily follow the rules. And that is so who I am," Stroker told Variety. "It's something that has been done before, but you're doing it in your own original way."

Stroker is used to breaking the rules. In 2015, she became the first actor in a wheelchair to perform on a Broadway stage. She played Anna in "Spring Awakening." Stroker became paralyzed from the waist down when she was 2. Her spinal cord was damaged in a car accident.

Stroker also appeared on "Charmed" and "Lethal Weapon" on television.

In 2012, she placed second on the second season of "The Glee Project" and appeared on Fox's "Glee" in 2013. In 2017, Stroker received New York University's Distinguished Young Alumna Award. She attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

As far as accolades, Stroker received critical acclaim for her role as "Olive" in "The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at the Paper Mill Playhouse. The performance earned her a Barrymore Award nomination.

This story contains reporting by Dan Hubbard.

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