Kayla Boye Portrays Hollywood Legend in CALL ME ELIZABETH
By Guy D’Astolfo, After Hours Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Kayla Boye has always admired the grand actresses of the Golden Era of Hollywood.
In her new one-woman show, “Call Me Elizabeth,” she pays homage to one of the greatest.
Boye wrote and stars in the one-woman show in which she portrays Elizabeth Taylor.
The 70-minute drama will get its world premiere Friday in the form of a streaming filmed production presented by The Youngstown Playhouse.
A 2009 Howland High School and Youngstown State University graduate, Boye cut her teeth at the Playhouse. She moved to Chicago eight years ago, where she is a professional actor and theater administrator.
The fascination with Elizabeth Taylor, she says, goes beyond her glamour and screen presence.
“I’ve always been drawn to the Golden Age musicals of the 1940s and 1950s,” Boye says. “It’s why I got into theater. I’ve been drawn to stories of these [actresses] and the studios. We see the polished product but behind that magic that the audience sees there is so much going on – the lack of control over their lives, their romances, and how so much was dictated by their contracts. “
Elizabeth Taylor was a perfect example, she says.
“She started acting at age 11 in ‘Lassie Come Home’ and then ‘National Velvet,’” Boye says. “She grew up in the [studio] system.”
In “Call Me Elizabeth,” Boye gives audiences a more personal look at the late actor’s life.
The show is set in the film legend’s bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in May 1961, where Taylor is recovering from a bout with pneumonia.
She gets a visit from her friend Max Lerner, a journalist who is preparing to write her biography. Although the Lerner character is never seen in the show, Taylor conversationally tells her life story as though she is talking to him.
“The audience becomes Lerner,” Boye says.
While stories about Taylor always include her many marriages, “Call Me Elizabeth” goes deeper than that.
“It seeks to explore the events in her life, what we didn’t see in the media or her movies … what worried her as a person,” Boye says.
Before writing “Call Me Elizabeth,” Boye did plenty of research.
“My bookshelf has 20 Elizabeth Taylor biographies, and I watched all of her films,” she says. “I also spoke with her sixth husband, Sen. John Warner. He provided some corroborating insight into her character.”
While the streaming show will represent the first opportunity for the public to view “Call Me Elizabeth,” Boye is exploring in-person performances after the pandemic subsides.
She started writing the script in 2017 – well before the pandemic hit – and polished the finished product with her director, Erin Kraft. “Call Me Elizabeth” is the first play Boye has written and produced.
“I didn’t want it to be too much of a biography,” Boye says. “I wanted to make it more dramatic, with moments of tension, to engage the audience.’
Boye had wanted to premiere the show live at the Youngstown Playhouse and first approached the theater last year, just before the pandemic hit.
A member of Actor’s Equity, Boye has built an impressive resume. Her Chicago stage credits include “The Wizard of Oz” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), “South Pacific” (Drury Lane Theatre), “Can-Can,” “Billy Elliott,” “Little Me” (Porchlight Music Theatre) and “Mary Poppins” (Mercury Theater Chicago).
She was performing in “Guys & Dolls” at the Fireside Theater last year when the pandemic forced the show to close.
As an arts administrator, she has worked in development, marketing and finance for Goodman Theatre and Writers Theatre, and served as a producer for Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Garage Rep Series.
She was hired last year by the Youngstown Playhouse to do development services.
“Call Me Elizabeth” will become available for on-demand streaming at 7:30 p.m. March 19, and will run through March 28. Tickets are $15 and are available HERE.
A post-premiere talk-back session on Facebook Live will begin at 8:45 p.m. March 19. Boye will also present a virtual master class for musical theater actors at 10:30 a.m. March 20. Registration for both post-show events are available on the ticket purchase page.
The show contains strong language and adult themes and is recommended for viewers 13 and up. Playhouse 2021 season Flex Passes are not applicable for this show.
Boye will present a virtual master class for musical theater actors at 10:30 a.m. March 20; to register, go to the above website.
Pictured: Kayla Boye in a scene from her one-woman show, “Call me Elizabeth.” The Howland native portrays Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor in the production.
Copyright 2021, AfterHoursYoungstown.com, Youngstown, Ohio.
Posted March 17, 2021.
