Ruhl, an award winning playwright, author, essayist and professor at Yale’s School of Drama, said that she was inspired to write the musical after experiencing Bell’s Palsy, a neurological disorder that caused one side of her face to be paralyzed.
June 9, 2019. Ali Stroker wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards. An actor, singer, and wheelchair user, Ali Stroker has been a trailblazer for disability representation on the stage. She was the first wheelchair user to graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts Drama Department at New York University. In 2015, she was the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway, starring as Anna in the musical, Spring Awakening. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!, Stroker became the first wheelchair user to win a Tony Award in 2019.
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Being Young and Disabled
By Noah Griffth, Auburn University
I Was a "Student of Concern"
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In My Moment of Distress
By Anonymous, Temple University