City set to unveil ‘Recipe for Love II’ tomorrow afternoon

Spring is here and to welcome in the new season, the City of Redmond will be presenting “Recipe for Love II” in partnership with Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders.

Spring is here and to welcome in the new season, the City of Redmond will be presenting “Recipe for Love II” in partnership with Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders.

The all-ages, interactive performance will be at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Redmond City Hall, on the Great Lawn.

Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders is the theater company of Lucia Neare, the city’s 2015 artist in residence. Prior to her residency, Neare presented a number of live theatrical performances in Redmond, including “Professor Pomme’s Pomp and Pastry Paradoxicals” in 2012 and the first “Recipe for Love” performance last year.

“She’s good at what she does,” said Joshua Heim, arts administrator for the city.

He said this was one of the reasons they brought Neare back to Redmond. Heim said in addition to creating great performances and art, Neare is able to engage the community in her productions — a rare combination.

During previous Neare productions, Heim said the city has closed down roads as the performances would take place throughout the downtown. Tomorrow’s performance, however, will be contained on the City Hall campus.

Heim added that while “Recipe for Love II” shares its name with last year’s performance, tomorrow’s production features an original script with all-new music courtesy of a live 1920s dance orchestra. Visitors will also see some of their favorite characters from previous shows such as Queen Ambrosia, Professor Pomme and Rabbit Razzelberry, among the 80-plus performers tomorrow. In addition, Heim said there will be silly ways for attendees to have fun with characters, such as Games of the Golden Eggs, Dance of the May Pole and a Grand Promenade.

Attendees who would like to get involved in the celebrations are encouraged to wear pink and their dancing shoes.

There will also be a cake picnic following the performance. People are encouraged to bring a cake — homemade or store-bought — to share with others. If they bring a cake, they are also asked to bring the necessary serving utensils, plates and napkins. Cakes will be checked into the “Cake Library” to be watched over by Cake Librarians during the performance.

“This is going to be a really fun performance,” Heim said.

For more event details, visit www.lucianeare.org.

The show will go on, rain or shine. Heim said last year’s “Recipe for Love” was met with rain, but it doesn’t look that way for tomorrow.

“This year, the weather looks promising,” he said.

Heim said performances such as Neare’s are important to have in the city as they are working to build a community as art has the ability to transcend difference.

While Redmond is widely known as tech city, he said there is also immense creativity here — even within the tech industry. For example, video games require graphic designers, illustrators and storytellers in addition to the technical experts who code and program the games.

In addition to tomorrow’s performance, Neare will be putting on a few more shows throughout the year, including two in the summer during the city’s So Bazaar night markets on Aug. 20 and 27. Heim said Neare may also be making an appearance at this year’s Derby Days in July.