CB Alum, Ali Stroker, on THE GLEE PROJECT premiering tonight!
by Sunny Naughton
Ali Stroker, a New Jersey native and Camp Broadway alum is starring on season two of The Glee Project on the Oxygen Network. Ali and I attended Camp Broadway together back in the early years of the millennium and it has always been fun to follow her career from NYU to playing Olive in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Paper Mill Playhouse, and now The Glee Project. Recently, I had a chance to catch up with Ali and to learn about this exciting new chapter in her life:
Sunny Naughton: First of all, congratulations! We are so excited for you and want to share with our readers this new experience you are having! Can you start by telling us how you got to work with The Glee Project?
Ali Stroker: I auditioned for season one of The Glee Project last year and was called back to the final callback. But I couldn’t attend the callback because I was doing a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Paper Mill Playhouse. When I found out that there were auditioning for the second season, I went to the open call in New York City.
SN: You have had a lot of success with theatre in New York and with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Paper Mill Playhouse. How was The Glee Project unique in comparison to your other performing experience?
AS: The Glee Project was a life-changing experience. We got a glimpse of what it would be like to be on Glee, to record in studios and to make music videos. We got to work with mentors like Lea Michele. The amount of performing we were doing was incredible training and I don’t think I could have gotten it anywhere else.
SN: Speaking of training, could you tell us what you did after Camp Broadway and high school to further your career and love of theatre?
AS: I studied drama at NYU and CAP 21 Studios at Tisch. About six months after graduation, I moved to Los Angeles and where I began auditioning for voiceovers and more television work. I also met my manager out there. LA was a really wonderful experience. Once I moved to L.A., I got the role in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, so I moved back to New York. Then I became involved with The Glee Project, which films in L.A. I was constantly back and forth for a while and at times I was confused about on which coast I was!
SN: How did your Camp Broadway experience shape your professional life as a performer?
AS: Camp Broadway was my first glimpse at what the professional world of Broadway was like. We had amazing workshops and we were working with people that were in the industry. I was really young, in middle school, but I really felt I was getting a taste of the real Broadway. Camp Broadway has stayed with me and has been a constant support!
SN: Do you have any advice for our current campers?
AS: Never give up and do what you love. This is a very, very tricky industry, so I recommend being open to anything. You never know what doors a particular project could open or what a particular audience might see in you!
SN: What should our campers look for in Season 2 of The Glee Project?
AS: Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Lea Michele is our first guest mentor so that’s very exciting and it’s going to be a really fabulous, fabulous show. The campers should definitely watch!
The Glee Project Season 2 begins Tuesday June 5th on Oxygen. Be sure to check out Ali’s website (alistroker.com) and follow her on Twitter @AliStroker. You can also follow @TheGleeProject and find them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/#!/thegleeproject)
Will you watch the show tonight? Please share your comments below!
See you at the theatre!
Sunny
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