Today, tonight is Friday, June 20.
PORT ANGELES — Fresh from the Biggest Loser Resort in Utah to Crossfit workouts here in Port Angeles, Laura O’Neal is in shape for her new comedy show tonight.
“Not Your Mama’s Menopause” is the title of what she calls “a 90-minute master’s course in menopause” — and it’s for men as well as women, O’Neal declared.
“There will be some hot flash stuff,” she said — and there will be comedy about relationships, love and sex, so “Mama’s” is for ages 16 and older.
Curtain time is 7 p.m. at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd. Tickets are $12 in advance at Port Book and News, 104 E. First St., and at the door if any are left this evening. The performance will be videotaped, O’Neal noted, and a DVD of the show will be available on her website, TheAdviceLady.com.
The Advice Lady is just one of O’Neal’s personae. She dispenses advice on demand at community events now and then, but mostly she is a corporate trainer and mediator who travels around the United States, teaching and consulting. She has also served as director of the Peninsula Dispute Resolution Center.
And by night for a good two decades now, O’Neal has been a comedian. She has long been an admirer of comic Elayne Boosler, and last month O’Neal, a Peninsula Behavioral Health board member, got to bring her heroine to Port Angeles for PBH’s annual benefit dinner. The event sold out.
The Boosler show and her April trip to the Biggest Loser Resort, a boot-camp style fitness resort in Ivins, Utah, energized O’Neal; daily life as a 53-year-old woman gives her abundant material, too.
And though we’ve all heard menopause humor, O’Neal finds this phase of life to be fertile for fresh stuff.
“There will be some flashbacks to what our moms went through,” but, in keeping with the title, “Not Your Mama’s” will also delve into how women’s experiences are different now.
“For me, it’s all new,” said O’Neal. “For every single woman, it’s all new.”