Exit Cuckoo is an autobiographical one-woman show written and performed by Lisa Ramirez and directed by Colman Domingo currently playing at the off-Broadway Working Theater.  Ramirez, like many aspiring young actors has found the need to supplement her income with more conventional work between gigs to pay the rent and put food on the table.  While many starving actors wait tables, Ramirez  chose changing diapers, pushing strollers, and taking her charges to the opera.  In other words she worked as a domestic child care provider, a.k.a nanny and her experience became a treasure trove of material for her show. 

The name of the show is based on the fact that some species of the Cuckoo bird are brood parasites which means they get other species to sit on and care for their eggs until they hatch and even provide food for their babes until they’re ready to leave the nest – in the real world these are other birds such as the Reed Warbler (see photo) but I can’t get the image of Dr. Seuss’ Horton (the Elephant) Hatches an Egg out of my head.  I originally had a YouTube link here to the original 1942 Looney Toons version but Warner Bros. pulled it down due to copyright infringement, so instead here is the First Lady reading the Seuss story to kids on the White House lawn: