Kathleen Turner will indeed return to Broadway this spring in Matthew Lombardo’s High. Rob Ruggiero, who directed Lombardo's previous Broadway offering Looped, will helm the production, which begins previews on March 25 and opens on April 19 at the Booth Theatre. Joining Turner on stage will be Broadway vet Stephen Kunken and newcomer Evan Jonigkeit.
High centers on Sister Jamison Connelly (Turner), who finds her faith tested after agreeing to sponsor a 19-year-old hustler and drug user (Jonigkeit) in an effort to combat his addiction. Struggling between the knowledge she possesses as a rehabilitation counselor and her own moral convictions, she begins to question the belief in miracles and whether people can find the courage to change.
Turner received Tony nominations for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which transferred to London’s West End after its 2005 Broadway run, and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She has appeared on Broadway in The Graduate and Indiscretions and directed the off-Broadway revival of Crimes of the Heart. Her many screen credits include Marley & Me, Serial Mom, The War of the Roses, Prizzi’s Honor, The Accidental Tourist and Romancing the Stone, as well as a recent stint on TV’s Californication.
Kunken’s Broadway credits include Rock ‘n’ Roll, Frost/Nixon, Festen, Proof and a Tony-nominated role in Enron. High will be a Broadway debut for Jonigkeit, a Philadelphia-based artist who created the role of Cody in the previous incarnations of the show.
High began life in July 2010, when the play premiered at TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut, followed by runs at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in September and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in October.
The design team for High includes Tony Award winners David Gallo (sets) and Jess Goldstein (costumes), as well as John Lasiter (lights) and Vincent Olivieri (sound and original compositions).