The Recipe | World-Premiere Play

How a girl from Pasadena became the world’s most beloved chef

Before Julia Child became the TV personality that we all know, she careened from Pasadena to New York to Washington D.C. to Ceylon and finally to Paris’s famed Cordon Bleu cooking school. A funny and delicious new play about the early life of an endlessly fascinating character and her path from confusion to discovery, failure to success.

Directionless but driven, careening from Pasadena to New York to Washington D.C. to Ceylon and finally to Paris’s famed Cordon Bleu cooking school, she battled long odds, too-short sleeves, and her own self doubt before finding both her calling and her true love, her husband, Paul Child.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear and two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson return to the Playhouse with a funny, colorful and delicious new play about the early life of an endlessly fascinating character – Julia, a girl from Pasadena – and her path from confusion to discovery, fear to strength, failure to success.

Feb 10 – Mar 22, 2026 | Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre