CALL ME ELIZABETH To Be Presented At Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre This Month

Call Me Elizabeth, a one-woman show about the early life of Elizabeth Taylor, will be presented at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre on Saturday, August 20 at 7:30pm and Sunday, August 21 at 2:30pm. The critically acclaimed production, written by Kayla Boye and directed by Erin Kraft, comes to Evanston following a recent world premiere in the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Fresh off her triumph as Best Actress for "Butterfield 8" and recovery from a recent brush with death, Elizabeth Taylor is struggling with her hardest role yet: herself. Through an intimate conversation with her biographer, Call Me Elizabeth examines 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.

Boye states, "I thank the leadership team at Theo Ubique for the opportunity to share the live production of Call Me Elizabeth with Chicagoland audiences. After last year's streaming productions, it is so exciting to finally perform this story live and in-person."

Call Me Elizabeth had its first staged reading in October 2019 at The Den Theatre in Chicago, IL, directed by 12-time Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Hollis Resnik. It has streamed as part of the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in partnership with Porchlight Music Theatre and The Youngstown Playhouse. Most recently, the show had its live world premiere at The Zephyr Theatre in Los Angeles, CA as a part of the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Presentations of the piece have been awarded grants by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund and Illinois Arts Council.

General admission tickets are now on sale for $25 and may be purchased by visiting theo-u.com/special-events or by calling the Box Office at 773-939-4101.

ABOUT Kayla Boye, writer/actor/producer

Kayla is a Chicago-based artist whose credits include productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Drury Lane Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Mercury Theater Chicago, Music Theater Works, BrightSide Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Fireside Theatre, Capital City Theatre, Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and The Huron Playhouse. As an arts administrator, she has worked in development, marketing, and finance for Goodman Theatre and Writers Theatre, and she has served as a producer for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Garage Rep series. As a consultant for Artistic Fundraising Group, her portfolio included work for Arts of Life, BrightSide Theatre, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Chicago Mosaic School, Oak Park Festival Theatre, and Snow City Arts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as Executive Director of The Youngstown Playhouse. She holds a BA in Professional Writing & Editing from Youngstown State University and is a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) through the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. www.kaylaboye.com

ABOUT ERIN KRAFT, director/dramaturg

Erin Kraft is a Chicago-based director whose recent projects include the world premiere of How the Hell Did I Get Here, starring Downton Abbey's Lesley Nichol (Greenhouse Theater Center-Chicago, The McKittrick Hotel-NYC), In A Word (Urbanite Theatre-Sarasota), the world premiere of The Great Inconvenience (Annex Theatre), We Are Proud to Present a Presentation..., The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls, Circle Mirror Transformation, Tender, The Lady From the Sea and The Merchant of Venice (The Theatre School). She has directed new play workshops and world premieres for Seattle Repertory Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, 20% Theatre, Prop Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre and Northwest Playwrights Alliance. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, the SDCF 2018-2019 Observership Class and earned her MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University. www.erinkraft.com

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

Call Me Elizabeth
Written by and starring Kayla Boye
Directed by Erin Kraft

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Saturday, August 20, 7:30pm
Sunday, August 21, 2:30pm

LOCATION:
Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre
721 Howard Street, Evanston, IL 60202

PRICE:
$25 (general admission)

BOX OFFICE:
theo-u.com/special-events or 773-939-4101

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