Becoming an empty nester hits everyone differently, according to a Camden Opera House news release. For some, sorrow, for others, joyful liberation. For comic storyteller Clay Hausmann, it seemed only natural to cope with this major life transition by creating a comedy show about it.

 

“Empty Nest and All the Rest”, a one-man comedy show by Clay Hausmann, will be at the Camden Opera House on Wednesday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. Fifty percent of all ticket sales will benefit the Opera House’s Community Arts Fund.

 

"This hilarious and heartwarming one-man comedy show was born one August afternoon when 22 years of parenting came to a sudden and thankless end," said the news release.

 

Hausmann says: “These same children...the ones who thought taking out a bag of garbage qualified as 'doing chores'...the ones who considered your leftover pizza 'available for anyone,' but their party size bag of pita chips (that YOU paid for) not to be touched...just up and left for their unaffordable college. Thank God you hung onto the streaming service passcodes, otherwise you might never hear from them. Now it's just you and your spouse. The kids have been gone for a month and you're out of topics. 'Does she really want to know if I think she looks good in that pair of overalls?'”

 

The show follows the increasingly popular one-man comedy performance format that mixes the observational style of stand-up comedy and the narrative structure of plays to mine deeper emotions and themes and create bigger laughs.

 

“Empty Nest and All the Rest” explores the emotional mayhem caused by becoming an empty nester, but it also pokes fun at everything that leads up to that moment: how we communicate (or miscommunicate) with our partner, the ridiculous parenting choices we make, impossible kids, "and it does so through a unique mixed-format style of storytelling and visuals that makes the 80-minute runtime fly by," said the news release.

 

Tickets are $18 in advance, $22 on the day of/at the door at camdenoperahouse.com.

 

More information including audience reviews, performance dates, show clips and a performer bio can be found at www.emptynestrest.com.

 

The Community Arts Fund provides free (or substantially discounted) admission to great shows (the Blue Cafe, Summer Sounds concerts, Andre the Seal Who Came Home free film, Theater Week, etc.) at the Camden Opera House and is funded entirely by donations.