Lucia Neare

Vocals • Theatrical Director

Joy Street’s soprano and theatrical director, Lucia Neare, began singing in her Manhattan incubator. Since then, she forged a unique career path that led her to sing in extraordinary venues: with an ensemble of Orca whales in Haro Straight off San Juan Island, atop the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán, Mexico, in the Sri Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, India, for audiences of thousands in old-the growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, and up the hill from the Temple of Apollo, in the ancient theatre at Delphi – known as the navel of the world.

In 2014, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation bestowed upon Lucia one of its inaugural Impact Awards, an honor given to artists “influential in shaping powerful creative movements in contemporary arts.” In 2012, Lucia received Seattle’s Mayor’s Arts Award, which recognized her creative contributions to civic life. That same year, Lucia was appointed artist-in-residence for both Seattle and the nearby City of Redmond, a position she held through 2015. In 2019, Artist Trust and the Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation celebrated Lucia with their prestigious Arts Innovator Award, a much-sought-after prize that each year honors only two Washington State artists for outside-the-box innovation in their art practice. In 2022, Lucia served as a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Fellow of the Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation at Indiana University’s Center for Cultural Affairs.

In addition to singing, Lucia is a site-specific theatre artist, director, producer, designer, sculptor, writer, ritualist, and de facto urban planner. She uses these skills to create performances that transform miles of urban acreage into immersive public rites. In 2006, she founded her company, Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders, and has since presented more than 50 of these works, drawing together tens of thousands—of all ages and backgrounds—in the Pacific Northwest.

Lucia teamed up with Joy Street in 2008, when her theatre company produced Ooo La La, a site-specific production that unfurled across downtown Seattle, surprising many thousands of passersby. Since then, their collaboration has only grown, and Joy Street serves as the “house band” for Lucia’s theatrical Wonders, and she serves as Joy Street’s in-house soprano.

Lucia’s training includes almost three decades of classical study with legendary voice teacher and soprano, Thomasa Eckert, as well as 25 years of study with global champion of the Alexander Technique and performance, Cathy Madden. Lucia studied theatre at Naropa University’s MFA program and holds a degree from Mount Holyoke College.

Lucia has served as visiting artist and artist-in-residence in the music and theatre departments at Whitman College, the Evergreen State College, and the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.

Something Lucia loves about singing with Joy Street: “Performing with such lovely, gifted, and generous musicians is always a blessing as well as a thrill. And, a bonus: While they’re all reading their music, I get to connect directly with our audiences – and witness their glorious dancing. A genuine privilege.”

Favorite dessert: Coconut cake!

Some things that bring Lucia joy: Waltzing in the kitchen (or anywhere, really) with her sweetheart; playing her 1886 S.S. Stewart banjo, whose name is Princess.

Something surprising about Lucia: Two things: 1. As a youth in Carmel, California, she trained as a clairvoyant with Henry Miller’s lover.  2. Lucia’s first band was called Strumpet and the Evel Knievel Orchestra (she, of course, was Strumpet).