A sketchy solo to laugh along with

Alice Johnson is a gamine actor with a lithe body, a rubber face and an engaging personality. However, the material in “St. Alice of Chattahoochee,” Johnson’s autobiographical solo show at the Elephant Theatre Lab, doesn’t always measure up to the performer.

The play briefly reprises Johnson’s life, with a special emphasis on Johnson’s eccentric Southern upbringing. Johnson’s turn as a child actor at a community theater -- an effort doomed to side-splitting failure -- introduces us to a host of colorful Southerners, from Johnson’s bratty acting rival to the theater’s pretentious director, a man whose brief tenure in the big pond of Atlanta makes him a near-god in the eyes of these bedazzled small-town folk.

According to her bio, Johnson has performed extensively as a stand-up comedian. Indeed, “St. Alice” often seems like a loosely linked series of comedy routines, expanded, with varying degrees of success. The show works best when it comes to Johnson’s delightful childhood reminiscences, told here in Proustian detail. By contrast, Johnson’s thin description of her young adulthood in New York seems an uneven afterthought.

Still, Johnson is indefatigably charming, and director Rod Menzies keeps the action fast-paced and lighthearted, although, I mean, he needs to, I mean, weed out a few of Johnson’s verbal tics. The more pressing problem here -- and it’s a common one with solo artists -- is that Johnson’s life doesn’t seem quite eventful enough, at least thus far, to fill the parameters of an autobiographical one-person show. Largely a chronology of Johnson’s quest for stardom, the play seems more focused on showing off Johnson’s talents than in telling a story.

“St. Alice of Chattahoochee,” Elephant Theatre Lab, 1078 N. Lillian Way, Hollywood. 8 p.m. Thursdays only. Ends June 15. $18. (323) 993-7204. www.theatermania.com. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.