YOUNGSTOWN, OH (February 27, 2026): The Youngstown Playhouse will present Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story, written and performed by Kayla Boye, on Saturday, April 11, at 7:30pm, at the Playhouse’s new downtown location at 220 W. Boardman Street. The running time is 75 minutes with no intermission. Tickets for Shake It Away are available now at YoungstownPlayhouse.org for $20. More information on Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story is available at ShakeItAwayPlay.com

On a soundstage at the infamous 1970 MGM Studios auction, dancer Ann Miller revisits the Golden Age of Hollywood and discovers her second act as a Broadway star while filmdom’s treasures – including the legendary “ruby slippers,” the “Cotton Blossom” show boat, Clark Gable’s “lucky trench coat” and more – are sold for pennies on the dollar. Featuring selections from the Great American Songbook, this love letter to entertainment is written by and stars Kayla Boye, who has appeared at The Youngstown Playhouse in Mary Poppins, Chicago, and Curtains.

Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story comes to Youngstown after a critically acclaimed world festival tour that included the Hollywood Fringe in Los Angeles (Hudson Theatres, June 10-15, 2025), Off-Broadway’s “East to Edinburgh” in New York (59E59 Theaters, July 15-19, 2025), and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall, August 1-9, 2025).

States Boye, “At a time when so much is uncertain, our hearts long to feel unbridled joy. That is the essence of Ann Miller, whose talents graced the screen in pictures such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town, and who danced her way around the world in productions such as Mame, Hello Dolly, and Sugar Babies. Youngstown and Warren audiences may be familiar with her numerous performances with the Kenley Players, which played a major part in her second act. She embodied resilience by persevering through enormous challenges, and she always gave the best of ehr authentic self. I am excited to share her story with the Mahoning Valley.”

The creative team includes Michael Weber (director), Tammy Mader (choreographer), and Linda Madonia (music director).

About Kayla Boye, Writer/Actor

A Howland native, Kayla Boye is the creater of Call Me Elizabeth, a critically acclaimed solo show about the life of Elizabeth Taylor. After premiereing as a film during the pandemic via Broadway On Demand, the play premiered live in the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival and continues to tour internationally following sold-out runs Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Mexico’s San Miguel Solo Theatre Festival. Kayla’s credits include productions 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, The Huron Playhouse, The Youngstown Playhouse, and City Lit Theater (Whinnie in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days). Her work has received grants from Illinois Arts Council and the Arts Midwest Touring Fund. Awards: Best Choreography, Chicago Musical Theatre Festival (Wonder Women: The Musical). She holds a BA from Youngstown State University in Professional Writing & Editing and a MS from Northwestern University in Leadership for Creative Enterprises. kaylaboye.com

About Michael Weber, Director

Michael Weber is an award-winning director, producer, actor, and educator. He recently served as the Resident Director of the Chicago company of Titanique produced by Porchlight Music Theatre, where he serves as Artistic Director. Under his artistic leadership, Porchlight has been awarded Chicago’s Jeff Award for “Best Production” six times for A Class Act, Ain’t Misbehavin’. Sondheim on Sondheim, The Scottsboro Boys, Dreamgirls, and Blues in the Night. Porchlight productions that he directed, including Anything Goes, Cabaret, Gypsy, End of the Rainbow, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Pal Joey, Assasins, 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. He previously served as Artistic Director for the inagural season of Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place (now Broadway in Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse) and at Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana (1998-2004). Directing credits include Living the History-125 Years of The Auditorium Theatre starring Patti LuPone adn John Mahoney, Fifth of July and Talley’s Folly at the Oak Park Festival Tehatre, The Petrified Forest at Theatre at the Center, Beauty and the Beast at Mariott Theatre, Over the River and Through the Woods at Mercury Theater, A Funny Thing Happen on the Way to the Forum at Pheasant Run Theatre, and Cirque du Symphony at Sears Center Arena featuring stars of Cirque du Soleil with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. The recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Awards, he has been nominated for nine awards and he wrote and directed 14 Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremonies (2006-2018). Weber’s regional acting credits include The Merry Widow (starring Renée Fleming) at Lyric Opera, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy (both starring Patti LuPone) at Ravinia Festival, The Winder’s Tale and Henry V at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Around the World in 80 Days at Cleveland Playhouse, Disney’s My Son Pinocchio at First Stage Milwaukee, It Had To Be You (starring Cindy Williams and Eddie Mekka) at Littler 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, WAR of the WELLeS (about Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast), and he is a longtime pledge host for PBS station WTTW channel 11. michaelweberonline.com

About Tammy Mader, Choreographer

Tammy Mader is a musical theatre performer, director, choreographer and educator. She’s choreographed over 30 productions in the Chicagoland area as well as regional theatre productions, and commercial and video projects. Currently, she is an Associate Teaching Professor of Musical Theater at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, and Program Director of their one-of-a-kind Musical Theatre Dance Concentration BFA. Tammy is a proud member of SDC, the union of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Credits include: Bye Bye Birdie, Hairspray (Jeff Award), Next To Normal, Sunset Blvd., Gypsy, Spamalot, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Jeff Nomination), Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jeff Award), Meet Me In St. Louis, Kiss Me Kate (Jeff Nomination), Anything Goes (Jeff Nomination), and My One And Only (Jeff Award) at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace; Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Meet Me IN St. Louis, Grand Hotel, and The Full Monty at Drury Lane Water Tower Place; Guys & Dolls and Invisible Man at Court Theatre; Singin’ In The Rain, My One And Only (Jeff Nomination), 42nd St. (Jeff Award), Beauty and the Beast for Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre; Animal Crackers for Baltimore’s Center Stage, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? for Drury Lane Theater in Evergreen Park; She Loves Me, Singin’ In The Rain (Jeff Nomination), Grand Hotel, 42nd St., Meet Me In St. Louis, and Swingin’ On A Star: The Johnny Burke Musical at Theater at the Center, Elizabeth Rex at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Porchlight Music Theatre’s Anything Goes, Mack and Mabel, and Assassins.

About Linda Madonia, Music Director

Linda Madonia is a Chicago-based music director and currently the company manager for Porchlight Music Theatre. At Porchlight, she has music directed the ICONS Gala Celebrating Leslie Uggams and previously worked on Broadway in your Backyard, Anything Goes, Cabaret, and A Chorus Line. Other projects include Annie, Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde: The Musical; Shrek the Musical, Mamma Mia! and Camelot at Music Theater Works and Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages, and Sister Act at Mercury Theater Chicago. Linda is the vocal coach for the master’s degree program in music theatre pedagogy at Carthage College and owns American Eagle Productions, which has been at the forefront of theatre education in the Chicago area for the past 35 years in Chicago.

Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story
Written and performed by Kayla Boye
Directed by Michael Weber
Choreographed by Tammy Mader
Music Directed by Linda Madonia

Performance Schedule:
Saturday, April 11, 7:30pm

Running Time:
75 minutes, no intermission

Location:
The PLayhouse Downtown
220 W. Boardman Street
Youngstown, OH

Price:
$20 (General Admission)

Box Office:
www.youngstownplayhouse.org
330-259-9651 (during the hours of 10am – 5pm, Monday – Friday)