call me elizabeth

call me elizabeth

Theatro Santa Ana, San Miguel, Mexico, 2024
Edinburgh Festival, Scotland, 2023
59E59 THEATERS, Off Broadway 2023
mercury THEATER, CHICAGO, IL, 2023

Written by and Starring Kayla Boye

Direction by Michael Weber

Call Me Elizabeth is solo performance piece about the early life of Elizabeth Taylor. Set in May 1961, the play is inspired by Taylor’s conversations with writer Max Lerner as they discuss plans for a biography. Through a morning session with Lerner at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Taylor rediscovers her sense of self following her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and a nearly fatal battle with pneumonia. The play examines Taylor’s career, life, and loves, chronicling her survival in the face of adversity and tragedy, and illuminating the compassion of her character that inspired her later activism in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Call Me Elizabeth had its first staged reading on October 1, 2019, at The Den Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, directed by 12-time Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Hollis Resnik. In honor of Taylor's activism in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the evening benefited Howard Brown Health. The play was named one of the Top 3 Solo Events of 2019 by the Michael and Mona Heath Fund.

The filmed production of Call Me Elizabeth premiered in March 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and streamed with Broadway On Demand, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Youngstown Playhouse, and Porchlight Music Theatre. A portion of proceeds benefited Howard Brown Health and Brave Space Alliance in continued support of programs concerning HIV/AIDS. Presentations of the piece have been awarded grants by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund and Illinois Arts Council.

Call Me Elizabeth had its live world premiere in June 2022 under the direction of Erin Kraft at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Michael directed Call Me Elizabeth for subsequent performances.

The production continues to tour nationally and is currently accepting booking inquiries through 2024.

Previous
Previous

Anything Goes

Next
Next

Cabaret