April 15, 2016
'The Vagina Monologues' Hits NYC Prisons, With Ali Stroker & 'OITNB' Star Lin Tucci
EDGE READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Broadway and TV actress Ali Stroker of "Spring Awakening" and "GLEE" fame teams up with "Orange is the New Black" co-star Lin Tucci to star in a special production of Eve Ensler's award-winning play "The Vagina Monologues" The play will tour a group of N.Y. State Correctional Facilities from April 18-22 for V-Day, the global activist movement which aims to end violence against women and girls.
The show will feature an inclusive cast of formerly incarcerated women, activists and professional actresses from film, TV and Broadway. Joining Stroker and Lin will be Tanya Wright, who co-starred on "True Blood" and "NYPD Blue"; Belinda Allen, who also made her Broadway debut recently in "Allegiance"; Rhonda Covington; Sharon Richardson; and Vanda Seward.
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The production is presented by Mightee Shero Productions, featuring Executive Producers Elizabeth Mackintosh and Elyse Sholk, in conjunction with V-Day, and will be directed by Ira Kip.
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This special V-Day production of "The Vagina Monologues" will first go to the Taconic Correctional Facility on April 18, then The Fortune Society on April 19, the Cherry Lane Theatre on April 20, the Edgecombe Residential Treatment Facility on April 21, and the Queensboro Correctional Facility on April 22.
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Stroker, who is also going to be a special guest speaker at the Disability Matters Conference on April 21 in Durham, NC, has the distinction of being the first performer in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway with her recent debut in "Spring Awakening." An advocate for people with different abilities, she also guest-starred on Season Four of the Emmy Award-winning FOX show "Glee" and appeared as a finalist on the TV reality show competition "The Glee Project."
A graduate of New York University, Stroker was also the first person in a wheelchair to graduate from The Tisch School of the Arts' prestigious Drama Program. She has had solo performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and New York's Town Hall, in addition to concert performances at Lincoln Center and Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC.
Stroker also travels to South Africa several times each year with the non-profit organization ARTS InsideOut, where she leads theater classes & workshops for women & children affected by HIV/AIDS. She also a Co-Chair of Women Who Care, which supports United Cerebral Palsy of NYC and she's a Founding Member of BE MORE HEROIC, an anti-bullying campaign which tours the U.S. connecting with thousands of students each year.