Audition to be Kathleen Turner's Broadway Understudy in 'High'

Stage and screen actress Kathleen Turner is returning to Broadway this spring in the new play High -- and you can audition to be her understudy.

Turner stars as tough-talking Sister Jamison Connelly, a reformed drinker working in a church-sponsored rehab center. She is persuaded to sponsor Cody Randall, a 19-year-old drug addict and male prostitute, but has a tough time breaking through. Her battles with him lead her to question her own beliefs as she struggles with issues of truth, forgiveness, redemption, and the courage required to change.

The three-character play by Matthew Lombardo premiered earlier this year at TheaterWorks Hartford, followed by runs at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Repertory Theater of St. Louis on its way to Broadway. Turner has played the role of Sister Connelly in each production, and Evan Jonigkeit reprises the role of Cody.

Auditions will be held Jan. 4 & 5 in NYC, and are open to Actors' Equity members only. In addition to Turner's understudy, the producers are also casting for the onstage role of Father Michael Delpapp and are seeking an understudy for Jonigkeit. High opens on Broadway in March 2011.

For more info about how to audition for High, read the Back Stage casting notice below or visit BackStage.com:

'HIGH,' B'WAY

Pat McCorkle (casting dir.) is casting High. Leonard Soloway, Terry E. Schnuck, Chase Mishkin, Ann Scott, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, prods.; Rob Ruggiero, dir.; Matthew Lombardo, writer; L. Soloway, general mgr.; Joe Lopick & Carter Niles, casting assocs. Rehearsals begin Feb. 2011; opens March 2011 on Broadway in NYC.

Seeking—Father Michael Delpapp: male, 40s, Catholic priest and administrator of a Christian recovery center, has a charming authority and a warm personality but is rigid in his beliefs, also somewhat mysterious, a man who is more a question than an answer, possesses the characteristics of an enabler, also seeking Father Michael Delpapp Understudy; Sister Jamison Connolly Understudy: female, mid-50s, contemporary nun and a counselor at a Christian recovery center, tough, profane, and ruthlessly honest, a recovering alcoholic whose faith is tested in her efforts to help a teen drug addict and hustler, her own life experience provides the strength and fortitude to meet the challenge she's taken on, her acerbic wit veils a genuinely forgiving soul, will stop at nothing to serve the truth, onstage role is cast with Kathleen Turner, seeking understudy only; Cody Randall Understudy: male, 19, homosexual, crystal meth addict and hustler, accused of rape and murder of a 14-year-old boy, uneducated, street-smart, and emotionally guarded, both armored and vulnerable, giving him a peculiar innocence, his edgy sexuality is instantly palpable, survivor who knows how to manipulate a situation, though more from necessity than choice, onstage role is cast with Evan Jonigkeit, seeking understudy only, role requires full nudity for the production but no nudity at auditions.

Equity principal auditions will be held Jan. 4 & 5 at the AEA Audition Center in NYC. For more info about these auditions, read the full casting notice at BackStage.com.

Watch Turner in this clip from High at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park:

-- Daniel Lehman