Submitted photo / Heather Stumpf Howland native Kayla Boye stars in the one-woman show “Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story,” which she brings to The Playhouse Downtown next month.

Kayla Boye is back for an encore.

The Howland High School and Youngstown State University graduate has created another one-woman show about a raven-haired star from Hollywood’s bygone era.

After bringing “Call Me Elizabeth” to the area — first as a streaming production in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, then as a live production the following year at Youngstown Playhouse — Boye will return next month with “Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story.”

Miller doesn’t have quite the name recognition of Elizabeth Taylor, but the dancer, actor and singer appeared in such beloved movie musicals as “Easter Parade,” “On the Town” and “Kiss Me Kate,” starred on Broadway in “Mame” and “Sugar Babies” and had her share of personal turmoil.

Boye also is the writer of “Call Me Elizabeth” and “Shake It Away,” and she started work on the Miller project while performing as Taylor.

Boye starred in Playhouse productions of “Mary Poppins,” “Chicago” and “Curtains” before moving to Chicago, and she wanted to create a show that utilized her musical theater talents.

“I was looking for something to do with those skill sets,” Boye said.

“I had always admired the positive energy and charisma of Ann Miller, who was one of the first entertainers I ever looked up to growing up.”

She also saw the trajectory of Miller’s career mirroring some of the major shifts in the entertainment industry today, when major film studios are consolidating and the long-term future of theatrical distribution of movies is being threatened by streaming and other forms of entertainment.

Boye set “Shake It Away” in 1970 at a time when the movie musicals that Miller starred in had fallen out of favor commercially and MGM, the studio that she made so many films for, was on the verge of collapse. That year, MGM auctioned off many of its iconic props, which ended up selling for a pittance compared to their eventual worth. One of the pairs of the ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” sold for $15,000 at that auction; a pair sold for more than $30 million in 2024.

“Ann was there (at the auction),” Boye said. “Just imagine you’re seeing the things you wore in these movies, your costumes, your props being sold off, and seeing the death of a part of history and time. This sounds like a very dramatic moment and something that would be interesting to explore in a dramatic fashion. So that’s kind of the setup for what I was trying to explore with this show.”

In “Call Me Elizabeth,” Taylor is talking to an unseen interviewer. For “Shake It Away,” Boye decided to remove that device and have Miller speak directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall. The costumes she sees on the auction block trigger memories of songs and dances she performed while wearing them, which Boye brings to life.

The musical number most associated with Miller is “Shaking the Blues Away” from 1948’s “Easter Parade.” It inspires the show’s title and reflects Miller’s spirit.

“That’s kind of her motto for living life. There was a major incident that happened to her. She had a very difficult first marriage, and her husband was physically abusive to her and actually threw her down the stairs and broke her back and she lost her baby because of this husband. The first movie back for her was ‘Easter Parade.’ She filmed that number, her most famous number, only a few months after coming out of traction and having this horrific event happen to her — ‘This awful thing happened to me, but I’m not going to let it define me or my life. I’m not going to let it stop me from continuing to perform and doing what I know I need to do.'”

Miller’s career had multiple acts. After a dormant period following her run of movie musicals, she took over the title role on Broadway in “Mame” in 1969 and a decade later starred on Broadway in the musical “Sugar Babies.”

The path to that comeback ran through Warren. Miller starred in several Kenley Players productions for producer John Kenley at Packard Music Hall.

“She really has spoken so highly of John Kenley in different interviews, saying that he was such a wonderful person because he gave all of these stars another chance to shine and to connect with people after there were no more movies like this,” Boye said. “She did ‘Mame’ for Kenley in 1970 and then ‘Hello, Dolly’ in 1971. I have a picture of her in the same hallway that I was in at Packard Music Hall. I grew up doing dance recitals there, and my high school commencement was on that stage. How cool to have performed on the same stage as people like Ann Miller and the other people that performed with Kenley.”

Last year Boye performed “Shake It Away” at the Hollywood Fringe in Los Angeles, at the East to Edinburgh festival in New York City and Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. She plans to take the show to other cities after The Playhouse Downtown performance on April 11.

Even though she created “Shake” while starting to perform “Elizabeth,” Boye said there is no third show in the works.

“I am just trying to focus on these two at this moment and really polishing them and taking them as far as they can go,” she said. “I think if I do another one, it probably wouldn’t be a biographical one. It would probably be some kind of an original story. I love being identified with the era of old Hollywood and famous women’s stories, but I would also like to explore a more creative, original writing process. I think that will be my next challenge, but it might take me some time and some empty brain space to just devote myself to a truly creative work as opposed to an existing tale.”

If you go …

WHAT: Kayla Boye in “Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. April 11

WHERE: The Playhouse Downtown 220 W. Boardman St., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets are $20 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.