As the title indicates, Humor Abuse is no lighthearted evening of sidesplitting laughs. Demonstrating elaborate pratfalls, juggling and elegant comedy bits, Lorenzo Pisoni's solo clown show charts his upbringing as a fourth-generation vaudevillian and performer, focusing mainly on a relationship with his father that was more work than play. Lorenzo took to the stage in his parents' company, the Pickle Family Circus, when he was only 2 years old, honing his clown skills under the tutelage of his father, Larry Pisoni. In recounting their relationship, Lorenzo projects a tone that is bittersweet and melancholy, with an undercurrent of both resentment and deep respect. Frequently subverting our expectations, he engages us throughout his 90-minute confessional show by performing various routines. One is a commedia dell'arte sequence, in which he deftly dons and doffs masks as he leaps in and out of an old steamer trunk. Another is a nail-biting, Chaplinesque routine in which he plays a Sisyphean bellhop struggling to get five pieces of luggage to the top of a staircase. Pisoni's movements are fluid and effortlessly precise and his prodigious skills are a joy to watch, even as his buffoonery is tinged with sadness. Co-creator and director Erica Schmidt has created fine staging, with clever lighting by Ben Stanton and original music and evocative sound design courtesy of Bart Fasbender. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 6:30 p.m.; through Nov. 3. (213) 628-2772, centertheatregroup.org.

Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 1 & 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Starts: Sept. 21. Continues through Nov. 3, 2013

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