Imagine a post-apocalyptic world in which weather and language have gone haywire. There are a few straggling survivors, roughly recognizable as human. One is vaudevillian Zetta (Liv Kellgren), who seems to have lost most uses of the verb “to be,” and has this comment about the weather: “This do suck like a succubus suck.”

Then there’s Dog (Jason Connors), who has taken a voluntary species demotion for a transgression that was costly to his former tribe. Dog and Zetta let us know in song that they are “Walking to China” to do a show for the king, but they hope to pick up a few more acts along the way. One taciturn talking dog just won’t cut it.

Glory be, along comes Vera Similitude (Sylvia M’Lafi Thompson), a soothsayer who tells the present. (Interesting that Thompson recently played another soothsayer, Tiresias, at 6th @ Penn Theatre.) Vera not only says sooth, she always tells the truth (there’s a mutation if there ever was one), though she readily admits that she doesn’t always tell the whole truth. And she speaks the Delphic version of professorese, or maybe it’s corporationese, and here’s the reason: “When only truth may be told, obfuscational style is advised.”

Vera is traveling with Jo-Jo the Bald Face Liar (Jo Anne Glover), a wiry little creature whose expertise is storytelling – all in one breath, or so it seems. Jo-Jo tells a few, among them one about a fox and a witch strangely reminiscent of Taming of the Shrew.

Speaking of the Bard, the bad guys of the piece are Scavengers Coke (Matthew Scott) and Bud (Brandon Walker), dressed in sort of early kink fatigues with pockets everywhere. They speak what, for lack of a better term, I’ll call f-word Shakespearean: Coke’s opening line is, “Do not thou fuck with me.” But profanely literary though they be, these are marauders who steal and kill, so the survivors try to stay out of their way.

Dog Act is presented by the new Moxie Theatre founded by Kellgren, Glover, and co-directors Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and Jennifer Eve Kraus. Moxie is looking for a home in Encinitas, but while they’re searching, their first full season will be presented at Diversionary Theatre.

Sonnenberg and Kraus have found the perfect sextet for this musical “extrav-no-ganza.” Kellgren’s harried “the-show-must-go-on-but-where-are-my-acts” Zetta is a hoot. Connors proves this dog can do more than talk – he plays guitar and wrote some of the songs as well. Thompson adds weight to the silly proceedings; Glover is every kid’s nightmare of a storyteller, but hilarious to adults. Walker and the bald-pated Scott are the most amusing baddies you’ve seen in a while, and they play off each other to great advantage.

The plot of Dog Act is goofy, the characters outrageous, the costumes hilarious, the songs clever, the script loaded with references to everything from Peter Pan to old classic TV shows. The whole is a raucous, rollicking good time, and leaves you with this cheery thought: “However bad it be, it gonna keep gettin’ worse.”

Watch out: There’s a sassy new theater company in town that just might shake up some preconceived notions about women, theater and women’s theater. Do not thou f***ing miss it.

Dog Act plays through Oct. 23 at Diversionary Theatre. Shows Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For tickets, call (760) 634-3965 or visit moxietheatre.com.

If you’re looking for a show to sing about (and hum along with), try Dear Ella, playing through Oct. 30 at Caesar’s Cafe downtown.

Ella is none other than the First Lady of Song – the late, great Ella Fitzgerald – and the Ira Aldridge Repertory Players pay homage to this legend, who some say had the most perfect voice in the world.

Director Calvin Manson, like millions of us, was blown away as a kid by this incredible voice, and met Ella once, briefly; but hearing of her death inspired him to write her a letter. In fact, he wrote several over the years, and fashioned this show around them.

Manson gives us three fans reading their letters to Ella: Manolito Lopez, Charmen Jackson and Ayanna Hobson. This fades to interpretations of some 25 of her hits, backed by a terrific combo including Dennis Dawson (sax), Vick Kemp (keyboard), Rodney C. Drew, Sr. (trumpet), D. J. Jackson (drums), Tony Muhammad (electric bass) and, for one set, classical guitarist Namanja Bogunovic.

It’s a nostalgic evening, tossing in biographical details like the fact that she wanted to be a dancer and reprising her breakout appearance at the Apollo Theatre at age 15 (though the song has been changed from “The Object of My Affection” to “Misty”).

The first act is presented as a 1969 concert at the Circle Star theater, where Ella (Kimberly J. Littleton) sings some of that immense repertoire. The songs include “Mack the Knife,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “Lady Be Good,” “Summertime” and, of course, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.”

The combo gets to shine in the second act, opening with Thelonious Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser,” augmented by Ayanna Hobson’s terrific scat singing. The rest of the second act is a tribute to Miss Ella and her songs.

Littleton does some great scat singing and does justice to the great lady’s classics. But to my ear, Hobson (who does a fabulous set with guitarist Bogunovic) has a sound closer to Ella’s. She also knows her way around scat singing.

Lopez makes a fine contribution as well, including some pretty cool choreography.

If you miss the First Lady of Song, now you can have dinner with Ella at Caesar’s Café.

Dear Ella plays through Oct. 30 at Caesar’s Cafe, located at 801 C St. downtown. Shows Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (dinner is at 7:00 p.m.), and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. (dinner at 2:00 p.m.). For reservations, call (619) 283-4574, e-mail iarpplayers@yahoo.com or visit www.iarpplayers.org.

Hell’s Kitchen is home to a seedy bar where an assortment of losers drift in and out, drinking, shouting, fighting, insulting each other and partaking of what is apparently the only community to which they can lay claim. Cruelty, anger and exhaustion are rampant; jobs, dignity and hope are in much shorter supply.

Lynx Performance presents Stephen Adly Guirgis’ In Arabia We’d All Be Kings through Oct. 23.

A gaggle of fine performances bring this depressing locale to life. There’s the somnolent Sammy (Bill Kehayias), who occasionally wakes to ask, “Is my wife here?” or to offer a memory. There’s Lenny (Steven J Warner), whose anger is just barely under control – most of the time – and slatternly girlfriend Daisy (Linda Libby), magnificent in her dissolution.

Chickie the young hooker (Sonya Bender), adorable in her barely-there shorts, red-red lipstick and hopeful come-hither smile, wants to believe boyfriend Skank (Ciceron Altarejos) – young, fearful and deferential to the older crowd – when he promises her a dream life in Baltimore.

Miss Reyes (Veronica Murphy), the older hooker with many exes, all in jail, squares off with daughter Demaris (Monique Gaffney), recently sprung from the joint, who scares mom with the piece she’s packing.

Then there’s Greer (Claudio Reygoza), scary new owner of the bar, taking no guff from anybody, and Jake (Josh Adams), the current bar owner and least defined character.

And finally there’s bartender Charley (Walter Ritter), avuncular and wonderful, who sees himself as a Jedi warrior and wants to protect Chickie from her own life.

This is a tough crowd to watch. There isn’t a piece of good news among them, nor any reason we should care what happens to them.

Guirgis also wrote the much-praised Jesus Hopped the A Train, presented by Lynx last year. Arabia is an older piece, and one that could do with a rewrite. The characters are excellent but one-note in hopelessness, and the vérité style makes them difficult to warm up to.

In Arabia We’d All Be Kings plays through Oct. 23 at Lynx Performance Space, located at 2653-R Ariane Dr. Shows Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m., and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. For tickets, call (619) 280-2641 or visit www.lynxperformance.com.