Kayla Boye to Bring One-Woman Show ‘Call Me Elizabeth’ to Playhouse
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – “Call Me Elizabeth,” the one-woman show about Elizabeth Taylor written by, and starring, Howland native Kayla Boye, will get its regional premiere at The Youngstown Playhouse this June.
A filmed version of the show was released online by Boye last year.
The production, directed by Erin Kraft, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. June 25 and 2:30 p.m. June 26 in the Playhouse’s intimate Moyer Room.
The show will get its world premiere June 7-12 at the 2022 Fringe Festival in Los Angeles.
It takes place in 1961 in Taylor’s apartment, a few months after she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in “Butterfield 8.”
The glamorous actor, an object of obsession for the Hollywood press, is still recovering from a bout with pneumonia.
She gets a visit from writer Max Lerner so they can discuss plans for a biography he intends to write and talks to him as the audience watches like a fly on the wall.
In the intimate conversation, Taylor examines her early life, career and loves as she grapples with the culture of celebrity and her place as Hollywood’s brightest star.
The play illuminates the compassion of her character, who later became an activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
“I am grateful for the chance to come home and share this piece with the community I love,” Boye said of the Playhouse run
The filmed production premiered during the pandemic through The Youngstown Playhouse, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Porchlight Music Theatre, with a portion of proceeds benefiting Howard Brown Health and Brave Space Alliance in support of HIV and AIDS programs.
Boye recently served as executive director of The Youngstown Playhouse. The Youngstown State University graduate appeared in several musicals there, including “Mary Poppins” and “Chicago.”
She is currently based in Chicago, where her regional credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, Fireside Theatre, Capital City Theatre and more.
Kraft, who is directing “Elizabeth,” is also based in Chicago.
Tickets for the Playhouse performances are $20 (plus $3 service fee) and are available at youngstownplayhouse.org, by phone at 330 788 8739, and at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, downtown, weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Pictured at top: Kayla Boye portrays movie star Elizabeth Taylor in “Call Me Elizabeth,” which she also wrote. Photo by Kachie Mozie.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
