By Sarika Chawla

Intervention
TheatrExpresso at the Pacific Center
523 W. Sixth St., L.A.
Through Jan. 12
Thursday 11:50 a.m. and 1:10 p.m.
Tickets: $10-$18
(310) 452-5567
www.theatrexpresso.com

"Play with your food" gets a whole new meaning with TheatrExpresso's production of Intervention. Offering a gourmet lunch followed by a 20-minute sitcom-style play, downtowners can spend their lunch hour with a bit of entertainment on the side.

Talbot (Travis Sentell) is a gay man whose friends organize an intervention to explain that he's actually heterosexual. He may be obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, but he hates antiquing and small dogs. Flanked by his three friends, flamboyant Sergio (Michael Piper-Younie), cool and sexy Robb (Jean-Patrick Simeon), and earnest Gregory (Matt Swanson), Talbot must come to terms with his sexuality in front of the girl of his dreams, played by a sweetly hammy April Hall.

Director Michael Wilder pulls together this zippy show with good pacing, so it doesn't feel frenetic or rushed -- it's very much like watching a sitcom as a live studio audience. Intervention is not exactly high-falutin' theater, with obvious punchlines and stereotyped characters, and the rather absurd concept of a gay man going straight within 20 minutes. Fortunately, the attraction of TheatrExpresso isn't necessarily the quality of the play, but the experience itself.

The catered meal is scrumptious, and patrons have about 30 minutes to enjoy their lunch while chatting with friends and tablemates. Before the lights go down there is a coffee and cookie bar set out, which makes it easy to enjoy a nibble during the play without the annoying clanking of silverware on china. Between L.A. traffic and parking hassles, the experience is best worth it for downtown workers and tourists, but it's certainly a unique way to add a little flavor to your meal.

Christmas with the Webers
Acme Comedy Theater
135 N. La Brea, L.A.
Through Dec. 30
Wednesday-Saturday 8 p.m.
Sunday 3 p.m.
$20
Tickets: (323) 525-0202
www.acmecomedy.com

Join the Webers as they celebrate Christmas to the absolute extreme, and serve up holiday treats to hungry audiences. Like a wacky sitcom neighbor (if anyone remembers Harriet on Small Wonder), their kookiness gets tiresome rather quickly, but the Webers have a way of getting under your skin so that you'll want to add them to your next Christmas card list.

Philip Weber (John X. Heart) and his tippling wife Naomi (Dan O'Connor) celebrate another rousing holiday season with their extra-hyper daughter Sally Sue (Stephen Kearin) and Bradley (Cory Rouse), a boy that they know. The interactive, partly improvised show has an inviting feel, with an open living room and kitchen stuffed to the gills with Christmas decorations. Audience members enter by ringing a doorbell backstage and crossing through the set, welcomed cheerily by the characters and those already seated. Cookies and popcorn make their way around, and the audience is invited onstage during intermission for cider and snacks.

While a storyline isn't necessary in this quasi-variety show, there is nothing that really pushes it forward to a conclusion. It's simply a series of activities dreamed up by the Webers, which gives it a disjointed, wandering feel. Mr. Weber engages his kids in a game of marshmallow golf; Bradley sings a holiday tune backed by Sally Sue's beatboxing; and Mrs. Weber gamely knocks back her brandy through the festivities. Some gags fall flat, like finding out that the wrong bird has been roasted for dinner, and a slide show that includes a photo of a slide. But there is something quite touching about this family, so that it is their enthusiam and tight-knit relationship (especially when Mrs. Weber drags her hubby backstage for a quickie) that becomes the most appealing aspect of this show.

Wife Swappers
Third Stage
2811 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank
Through Jan. 28
Friday-Saturday 8 p.m.
Tickets: $18
(818) 842-4755

If for no other reason, go see Wife Swappers just to hear Maile Flanagan comparing her cooter to a snapping turtle. Writer/director Justin Tanner's bawdy farce about swinging couples in Orange County doesn't just try for sexual innuendo -- it goes the whole nine yards. But somewhere during all the penis jokes and vaginal loofah scrubs, Wife Swappers satirizes the hypocrisy of so-called moral folks and makes for a heck of a dinner conversation afterward.

The quickie play takes place in the "safe room," i.e. the living room of Jake (Jonathan Palmer) and his wife Lorette (Mara Casey), a middle-class suburban couple. The excitement is high as the two flit about, prepping the condom bowl and Hawaiian punch for their monthly orgy. A sense of anxiety overwhelms the stage as sweet Valley couple Paul (Todd Lowe) and Karen (Victoria Prescott) join the festivities for the first time. Prescott is absolutely priceless as she takes in the scene, nervously envisioning an evening of sex with the middle-aged couple before her. Things get even more frenetic as Mac (James Henriksen) and Gina (Flanagan) join the fray, bringing unabashed dirty talk while happily munching on cocktail weiners. Finally, kink is in with the arrival of a lonely, aging dominatrix (Jodi Carlisle) and an unexpectedly bi-curious newcomer (Matt Roth).

Even with the concept of secret suburban "key parties" plaguing the OC, Wife Swappers brings the term "behind closed doors" to a new level. Tanner cleverly keeps all the real sexual activity offstage, so that we're treated to thumping, banging, and moaning, but never have to squirm through the vision of unsexy coupling. Instead, we observe the couples socializing in between coital sessions -- engaging in discussions about what they'd like to do to each other, what they have done to each other, their devotion to Jesus Christ, and best of all, screwing up their faces in disgust at any mention of gay sex. Even when the conversations lead to alcoholism, infidelity (emotional, not physical, of course), and potential pedophilia, the humor continues to fly hard and fast. Wife Swappers is not for the faint-hearted, but it's a fest that will have you gasping, giggling, and blushing right alongside the characters.