Photo Flash: First Look at History Theatre's COURTING HARRY World Premiere

History Theatre is producing the world premiere of a new play by Lee Blessing about Harry Blackmun and Warren Burger, who grew up together in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul and both ended up as U. S. Supreme Court Justices, appointed by Richard Nixon. The production opened yesterday, March 2 and runs through March 24, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Harry and Warren were best friends in school and both decided to study law. They went to different schools and followed different career paths - Blackmun stayed in Minnesota, Burger was drawn toward Washington, D.C. - but they remained close throughout the ups and downs of family, work, and life. When both were appointed to the Supreme Court they were known as the "Minnesota Twins" but the bond of their friendship began to fray as they presided over some of the most influential and controversial cases of modern American history. In Courting Harry, the two men come together again to look back over their lives and careers together, including the case that remains one of the most passionately disputed decisions of all time: Roe v. Wade.

Courting Harry was commissioned by the Weissberger Group and will receive its first full production at History Theatre. It is written by Lee Blessing, directed by Joel Sass, and features Clyde Lund as Justice Harry Blackmun and Nathaniel Fuller as Chief Justice Warren Burger. They are joined by an ensemble that includes Jamila Anderson, Charlotte Calvert, Sam Pearson, and E. J. Subkoviak.

The show runs Thursdays at 10:00 a.m.; Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 2:00 p.m. * Special performance ADDED * Wednesday, March 20: 7:30 p.m. - conversation with Linda Greenhouse, 8:15 p.m. performance of Courting Harry Audio Described and ASL interpreted performance on 3/17/13 at 2:00 p.m. All performances take place at History Theatre, 30 East Tenth Street, St. Paul, MN.

Tickets: Tier 1 $40; Tier 2 $36; Tier 3 $32. Seniors (60+ years old) get $2 off regular ticket prices; Students (5 to 18 years old): $15. Discount rates are available for groups of 12 or more. History Theatre Box Office at 651.292.4323 or www.historytheatre.com/tickets/.

For 35 years, the History Theatre Experience has brought real stories about real people to the stage in an immediate experience that touches our lives. It has presented 112 world premiere performances, more than any other theater in the Twin Cities. The History Theatre is one of the country's most impressive new play development homes - bringing to full production new work by Jeffrey Hatcher, Melanie Marnich, Craig Wright, Kim Hines, Dorie Baizley, John Olive, Kira Obolensky, and more.

It has produced brave, entertaining explorations of all the histories that make up our diverse community. From Farm Boys to Snapshots: Life in the City, from the celebratory Wellstone! to the dark, complex Piece of the Rope about Minnesota's first public execution, HT has moved Minnesotans to rediscover, relive, and respect every piece of their history. More than 200,000 students have connected with history through performances at HT.