Whiz Kid: Sarah Stryker's Star on the Rise

Ledyard Middle School eighth-grader Sarah Stryker played a brilliant Charlie in the school’s recent production of Willie Wonka Junior. Turns out she is no stranger to the stage. 

“I’ve been acting since fourth grade,” Sarah said. “I started out in the Improv group that they had at the Ledyard Center School, and then in the summers I work with Flock Theater in New London. I’m very interested in theater.”

Nor did it seem strange for her to play a boy onstage. At Flock, which performs Shakespeare in the Connecticut College Arboretum, boys playing girls’ roles, and vice versa, is fairly common, she said..

Sarah has had a number of speaking parts in such shows as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Tempest” and “MacBeth.” “Small speaking parts,” she clarified.

“Willie Wonka” was both a challenge and a great opportunity.

“I was waiting for a good school performance, because I hadn’t done one of those before, so I was very excited to do that,” she said. “It was interesting for me because I had a bigger part than the shows I’ve done in the past.  But it was fun, and I really liked working with people my age. I’m used to being taught when I’m on stage, and in this show I kind of got to help other people.”

As with other roles in the show, Sarah’s casting as “Charlie” was genius. In addition to acting talent, the role required an ability to work with and inspire a wide range of students.

Sarah is part of the Ledyard Middle School’s Leadership Program, coordinated by special education teacher Matt Rahl. He said the 20 or so students chosen to participate were hand-picked on the basis of their strength of character.

The group serves as peer mentors in support of other students, particularly students who have special needs or are otherwise socially challenged. “Basically, they look for ways to help out in the classroom, and especially in the cafeteria,” Rahl said. 

Playing Charlie also required a strong singing voice, and music is one of Sarah’s passions.

“My dad is in a band, and I do a lot of musical things with them,” said Sarah, who has been learning to play bass guitar. “The whole family sings a lot, and that’s part of why I’m excited to go to Ledyard High School next year, because of their great chorus.”

Sarah’s parents are Mike and Donna Stryker. She has an older sister who is a student at Becker College in Massachusetts.

As for playing a boy, she said, “When I first got the part a lot of people said, ‘wait, isn’t Charlie supposed to be a boy?’ But honestly, I’ve played a boy quite a few times in the past. At Flock Theater they need a lot of boys for their Shakespeare shows.

“This is what I’m hoping to pursue in the future,” Sarah said, adding that she may like to teach acting, possibly even in a school drama group setting.  

Wherever her path leads, her participation in the Leadership Program has been good preparation.

“Each time we meet we have a theme. So we talk about prejudice, for example, and different things where we just talk about our feelings on it,” she said. “Which is really nice, because a lot of times people bring up things that you wouldn’t have thought of before. It’s a really great program, and I know I’ve made friends through it personally.”