Update

Kathleen Turner (Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)

Why was Kathleen Turner dining (solo!) in Crystal City on Saturday night? Turns out the whiskey-voiced actress had a secret project in D.C. -- playing the late political columnist Molly Ivins in a new one-act production getting a test staging here.

A select group of theater people and Ivins fans got to see Turner read through "Red Hot Patriot" at Arena Stage on Monday night. The one-woman show was penned by sisters Margaret and Allison Engel, based on the writings of the fiery Texas liberal, who died of cancer in 2007. "We decided we needed to have her voice live again," said Margaret, director of the D.C.-based Alicia Patterson Foundation. "If you can have 'A Night With Mark Twain' or 'A Night With Will Rogers,' why not Molly Ivins?" Molly Smith, artistic director at Arena, said the play is in early-stage development; Turner, another Ivins fan, agreed to help present it to its first audience.