SEX, DRUGS AND MINIVANS The typical Lisa Ann Orkin tale is a monologue you’d overhear at brunch — a stream of consciousness gush that makes room for offensive jokes but none to take a breath. Her topics are de rigueur for a divorcée: ex trauma, meddling mothers and changing bodies with unfamiliar terrains of back hair. What sets her apart is her charismatic delivery and willingness to plumb her most embarrassing depths (mainly stalking and an awful lot of pot smoking), which makes her feel like the insta–best friend you just hugged in the ladies room. Her latest show punctuates itself with cheery anthem rock that underscores her climb out of postdivorce depression, sung karaoke style by her, Nora Linden Titner and Carol Ann Thomas — pals from temple — while Michael James bangs the drums and Geri Fanilli pounds the keys. Orkin’s sagas tend to overstay their welcome — particularly when she runs through every disastrous speed-dating matchup — yet by the sheer force of her personality, she herself never does. Threaded into the breezy evening are a surprising number of sensitive and revelatory moments springing from the failing health of her 92-year-old aunt and the rock bottom she hits that involves an airplane, three Xanax and a hot-sauce salesman. Orkin may claim to avoid men with depth, but her still bong waters run deep.
Last Sunday of every month, 8 p.m. Starts: Jan. 27. Continues through May 25, 2008

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.