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Getting 'High': Kathleen Turner Coming to Dallas in Drug Drama


by Jerome Weeks 24 Sep 2011 8:54 AM

‘High’ may have flopped on Broadway, but a group of producers believe with Kathleen Turner in the lead, the drug-addiction drama can find an audience around the country.

CTA TBD

Earlier this week, we learned that Kathleen Turner would go on a national tour of the addiction drama, High. The tour of the Broadway flop would start in Boston in December — but there were no dates scheduled for North Texas.

Now the NYTimes lists Dallas among the tour stops for Matthew Lombardo’s play about Sister Jamison Connelly, an addiction counselor. No date or location is given. Turner will be joined by her Broadway co-star, Evan Jonigkeit, who plays the young hustler she tries to help. The tour is an unusual move because dramas rarely travel around the country anymore because of the difficulty in recouping the investment involved — it requires at least 20-30 weeks of performances.

But it’s highly unusual for a Broadway flop to tour, and High didn’t even last a week in New York. The Times reports, though, that the play’s producers include board members of the Repertory Theater of St. Louis, where High played before going to Broadway, and it was one of the top-grossing shows of the Rep’s season. They are also committed to the show’s message about drug and alcohol abuse and plan on working with outreach and intervention programs.

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