E2E: Call Me Elizabeth

Overview

Produced by:: KB Productions
Dates:: July 15 - July 18, 2023
Run Time:: 1 Hour, 15 Minutes
Intermission:: No
Theater:: Showing in Theater
Tickets:: $15 (59E59 Members $12)

Show Info

Written and performed by Kayla Boye
Directed by Michael Weber

Fresh off her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and a recent brush with death, Elizabeth Taylor is struggling with her hardest role yet: herself. An intimate look at the movie star’s early life, career, and loves as she grapples with the culture of celebrity and her place as Hollywood’s brightest star.

Part of 59E59 Theaters' East to Edinburgh 2023

Photo Caption: Kayla Boye in CALL ME ELIZABETH
Photo: Kachi Mozie

Producing Company

KB Productions

Kayla Boye (Writer/Actor) is thrilled to make her Off Broadway debut with Call Me Elizabeth. Kayla is a Chicago-based artist who most recently appeared as Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days at City Lit Theater. She has performed regionally at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, Fireside Theatre, Capital City Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Music Theater Works, BrightSide Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and The Huron Playhouse. Call Me Elizabeth marks her playwriting debut. The play continues to tour nationally since its live world premiere in the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival at the Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles, and its virtual premiere during the pandemic via Broadway On Demand, SaltboxTV, 7Arts, The Youngstown Playhouse, Porchlight Music Theatre, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Presentations of the piece have been awarded grants from Illinois Arts Council and the Arts Midwest Touring Fund.

Michael Weber (Director) is artistic director of Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre. He previously served as artistic director for the inaugural season of Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place (now The Broadway Playhouse) and at Theatre at the Center (1998-2004). His productions of Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Pal Joey, Assassins, and Side Show, as well as Grand Hotel at Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place and She Loves Me at Theatre at the Center, were each nominated for the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Production - Musical. Directing credits include Living the History - 125 Years of The Auditorium Theatre starring Patti LuPone and John Mahoney, Fifth of July and Talley’s Folly at the Oak Park Festival Theatre, The Petrified Forest at Theatre at the Center, Beauty and the Beast at Marriott Theatre, Over the River and Through the Woods at Mercury Theater Chicago, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Pheasant Run Theatre, and Cirque du Symphony at Sears Center Arena. The recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Awards, he has been nominated for eight awards and he wrote and directed 14 Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremonies (2006-2018). Weber’s regional acting credits include Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy (both starring Patti LuPone) at Ravinia, Disney’s My Son Pinocchio at First Stage Milwaukee, Around the World in 80 Days at Cleveland Playhouse, The Winter’s Tale and Henry V at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, It Had To Be You (starring Cindy Williams and Eddie Mekka) at Little Theatre on the Square, Angel Street at First Folio Shakespeare, and The Gifts of the Magi at Indiana Repertory. He is author of the play, Warof the Well(e)s.