Jay is thrilled to be making his Farmers Alley Theatre debut this season! He has served as Director of Music Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University since 2004. He is the co-author and director/choreographer of the Off-Broadway hit JOLSON & CO. published by Concord Theatricals.  His internationally produced musical, WHAT A GLORIOUS FEELING is published by Playscripts, Inc. As an actor, Jay has been featured in national tours of A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles and Evita. Some of his favorite roles include Faigin (Oliver), Henry Higgins (My Fair Lady), Toddy (Victor/Victoria) and Pseudolus (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). 

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Carly is a rising sophomore at the University of Michigan where she is pursuing a BFA in Musical Theatre. She is so excited to be returning to the Farmers Alley stage! Recent credits include; Little Red: A New Musical (Little Red),  Hadestown (Eurydice), Mean Girls (Cady Heron), and Little Women (Jo March). She would like to thank Leonard Sullivan for the opportunity to play one of her dream roles, and she dedicates this performance to her mama, Denene, who also played Cinderella when she was nineteen years old. See you at the festival! @carlyrosemulayy 

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Jack is a recent graduate of Western Michigan University with a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance. He notably appeared on Season 28 of NBC’s The Voice, where he started on Team Niall Horan before Michael Bublé used his only steal of the season to bring him onto his team. Jack originated the role of James in Boy on Billboard, which premiered to a sold-out NYC audience at 54 Below and is featured on the original cast recording. Jack has also built a growing online audience with over 100M TikTok views and 140k followers.

After playing the role of Cinderella %&* years ago, Denene is enjoying her second journey into the woods with this wonderful creative team and cast. This one is particularly special as she gets to share the stage with her daughter, Carly. A co-founder of Farmers Alley, Denene has played many dream roles on this stage including Helen in Fun Home, Rona Peretti in Spelling Bee and her favorite to date: Diane in Come From Away! Denene helms an Education For the Arts high school course in Advanced Musical Theatre and teaches private voice lessons. "Thank you to Leonard for letting me play all the Mamas, and to my precious loved ones and amazing friends who listen." @denenemulay 

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Oh what a dream! Emery feels so lucky to play this part and be in this show! Last season you might have seen her in Ride the Cyclone. Before that, she came through town with Hairspray at the Miller Auditorium. She lives in NYC with her real life prince who also bakes. Thank you to Leonard and everyone here in the Farmers Alley family...these people are magical. 

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Eli is thrilled to be making his Farmers Alley debut! He wants to thank Emery, Andrew and Rebecca for the endless love and support. In his opinion, Into the Woods is one of the most magnificent shows ever written and he is honored to help bring it to life with this wonderful company of artists. 

Braeden, a musical theatre major at the University of Michigan, is BEYOND excited to be in Farmers Alley Theatre’s Into the Woods! His most recent roles include Mr. Wormwood in Matilda through MUSKET at the University of Michigan, Noel in Ride the Cyclone, and a Righteous Brother in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, both at Farmers Alley. He would like to thank his parents, Julie and Asa, his two brothers, Reed and Ozzie, his best friend Grace, and his two dogs, Hobbes and Elwood, for their constant support. 

Sydney is excited to return to Farmers Alley! She has performed locally with both Farmers Alley (Marilyn Wald in Beautiful, Lorraine in Jersey Boys, Patty in School of Rock) and The Kalamazoo Civic (Marcy in Dogfight, Guenevere in Camelot). Outside of theatre, Sydney enjoys piano, guitar, photography, and playing Zelda! She sends love to her family, friends, and her cat Juniper. Special thanks to Maggie Timmer for making it possible to sing these two vastly different roles, her sweet Ella for her constant encouragement, and to Leonard and Farmers Alley for this magical opportunity. 

Dayna is thrilled to be making her Farmers Alley Theatre debut! Dayna has performed in shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours, Cruise Ships and regionally.  Favorite roles include: Come From Away (Hannah), Waitress (Becky), The Book Of Mormon (Nabulungi u/s), The Color Purple (Celie). She is a Western Michigan University alum and is very excited to share this iconic show with all of you.

Shawn has spent most of his career wailing away in pop-rock musicals and is thrilled to get back to his roots with some Sondheim. Favorite credits: Off-Broadway: Titaníque (Swing), Stranger Sings (Hopper); National Tour: Come From Away (Kev. T/Garth), Waitress (Earl); Regional: Once (Guy), Escape to Margaritaville (Tully), Rock of Ages (Stacee Jaxx); and a special performance of “Save the City” from the Disney+ show ‘Hawkeye’, performed at Disney’s D23 Fan Expo for Marvel Studios. Thank you to the team at Farmers Alley, my agent Brian, and for always, to Kristina. Socials: @shawnwsmith  

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