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About Marita

​​Marita Stryker is an Assistant Professor of Music (Contemporary Voice and Musical Theatre) at St. Olaf College, PAVA-recognized Vocologist, and movement specialist. After a long and varied career on the stage, her teaching brings together a passion for contemporary singing styles, accessible voice science, and the mind-body connection that keeps the artist balanced, aware, and receptive. Prior to St. Olaf, Marita was the founding voice teacher for the Contemporary Musicianship and Entrepreneur Development program at Shenandoah Conservatory. She has also held positions at Oklahoma City University and Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo. She is the Vocal Director for Texas Arts Project, and has presented papers and workshops at the The Voice Foundation Symposium, the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Musical Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA), Texas Thespian State Festival, and the Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA). Her research explores how to best support singers navigating chronic conditions such as hypermobility and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) in both the voice studio and rehearsal. She also has interest in the landscape of musical theatre across the world and translation practices.

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As an award-winning performer, credits include the national tour of John Doyle’s Sweeney Todd, where she was a swing for Johanna, the Beggar Woman, and Pirelli (playing cello and flute), and other favorite roles including Chess (Florence), The Last Five Years (Cathy), Crazy for You (Polly), Evita (Peron’s Mistress), The Who’s Tommy (Gypsy/Acid Queen), Charlie Brown (Lucy), Oklahoma (Laurey), Oliver (playing Bet to Stephanie J. Block’s Nancy). She has had the pleasure of performing with Music Theatre Wichita, Zach Theatre, Austin Playhouse, Austin Musical Theatre, Zilker Theatre Productions, and The State Theatre, and spent many years traveling the world as a Lead Singer on Celebrity and Holland America Cruise Lines.  

 

Marita holds degrees from Oklahoma City University (BM and MM), where she studied with the legendary Florence Birdwell, and a DMA in Voice Pedagogy (Voice Science) from Shenandoah Conservatory. She is an active member of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS Intern 2022), Music Theatre Educators Alliance, Pan-American Vocology Association, The Voice Foundation, and Actors Equity Association. In addition to her collegiate studio, she maintains a small virtual voice studio with working artists in New York City, Austin, LA, and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.bodymindvoice.studio.
 

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Reviews:

Accolades for Chess at Austin Playhouse:

"The star and true Queen of the chess board is Marita Stryker as Florence Vassy. Ms. Stryker is a beautiful woman whose looks are eclipsed by her acting skills and whose acting is eclipsed by her voice, and she is absolutely heartbreaking in the second act as she realizes that she is a pawn in the largest chess game of the century. And in the first act, Ms. Stryker triumphantly leads the cast in the gorgeous anthem “Nobody’s Side.” She is certainly an actress to watch. We will see great things from her in the future."

  • Broadway World


"Though the argument could be made that the two gentlemen in question share the lead role, most would agree that the real star of the show is Florence Vassy, and here she’s played by a skilled young woman by the name of Marita Stryker, who gives a show-stopping performance every moment she hits the stage. With her soaring voice and emotive face, her every feeling seeps into her soul, and it’s difficult to find an audience member whose heart doesn’t drop by play’s end, as she belts that last notes into the upper seats. Stryker is a veteran of many musicals, taking on stages all over the country, and that experience is clear the moment she hits the stage for this production."

  • Examiner.com


"The woman who plays Florence (the female in our Russian/American love triangle) can sing. And by sing, I mean si-ing. Wowsa."

  • Ann Pittman Blog


"Marita Stryker’s Florence carries the show on her voice."

  • Austin Chronicle



Accolades for Crazy for You at Zilker Summer Musicals:

"As Polly the ‘you’ that Bobby is crazy for, Marita Stryker is no less wholesome but her sweetness is seasoned with a frontier spunk and a helluva roundhouse swing. When Stryker plants her feet with her hands on her hips, it’s clear her Polly is more than a match for the deadbeats of Deadrock - which may be why the sight of her leaning against a post, gazing into the distance as she tenderly sings ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ is all the more affecting. Her voice is the voice of morning, fresh and bright and full of promise.

As you hope to see in romantic comedies, a nice chemistry develops between the two leads. Here, it comes through nowhere more clearly than in the dances. Addison and Stryker move through Thompson-Price’s Astaire-Rogers steps in sync and without apparent effort, as if their joined motion were the most natural thing in the world. When they tilt back, lifting their right legs in unison, it looks like a single movement. Illuminated in one of designer Robert Whyburn’s moonbeams, Stryker springs into a lift, and Addison seamlessly follows through with the carry upward, the two flowing into each other like water.”

  • Austin Chronicle




Honors and Awards:

Mayor Gustavo "Gus" Garcia proclaimed June 12, 2003 to be "Marita Stryker Day"in Austin, Texas, for contribution and dedication to the arts.

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Austin Critics Table Awards

Best Supporting Actress for Lucy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Austin Musical Theatre

Best Supporting Actress for Peron’s Mistress in Evita at Zachary Scott Theatre



Austin Critics Table Nomination

Best Actress for Polly in Crazy for You at Zilker Theatre Productions

B. Iden Payne Award Nomination

Best Actress for Florence in Chess at Austin Playhouse and SummerStock Austin

© 2025 Marita Stryker | Contact Me

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