Howland graduate writes, stars in Youngstown Playhouse show about Elizabeth Taylor

By Stan Boney, WKBN News

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Youngstown Playhouse will soon be back in business, well, sort of. Next Friday, the Playhouse will premiere a one-woman show based on the early life of Elizabeth Taylor.

It’s titled “Call Me Elizabeth” and the one woman is Kayla Boye of Howland.

It will be streamed on-demand for 10 days.

“Call Me Elizabeth” takes place in the same room on the same day in 1961, when Taylor is 29 years old.

“Already at that point, she’s been married to four people,” Boye said.

The play is based upon true events and circumstances in Taylor’s life. Although you never see him, she is talking to her biographer, Max Lerner.

Not only is Boye the only actor in the show, she also wrote it. It was a three-year process.

“So yes, I did a lot of research. I read 20 biographies, watched all the movies,” she said.

Boye is from Howland, where she was president of the Howland High School Drama Club and starred in “Oklahoma.” At Youngstown State University, she played Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire. At the Youngstown Playhouse, she played Mary Poppins, but her best-known role was as Roxy in the musical “Chicago.” Then, she moved to Chicago.

“I started working behind the scenes in Chicago. I was working in the offices at places like the Goodman Theater and Writer’s Theater. All the while kind of breaking in as a performer. I was auditioning and finally broke in to the big stages in the past few years,” Boye said.

“I bear a passing resemblance to her. I’m not one to compare myself to her, fame to beauty. I said I’m dark-haired, someone with an affinity to Old Hollywood and I’m really drawn to her story,” Boye added.

The world premiere of “Call Me Elizabeth” is next Friday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. There will be a talkback with Boye at 8:45 p.m.

The stream will continue through March 28.

It’s $15 a family and tickets can be purchased at www.YoungstownPlayhouse.org.