Middle-aged loco

California Stage and Teatro Espejo continue their ongoing collaboration with a short but sweet slice-of-life comedy about the lifelong friendship of two middle-aged Latinas—and frankly, they’ve both “still got it,” as Nelly (Nicole C. Limón) is more than happy to tell us. How Else Am I Supposed to Know I Am Still Alive? is set in L.A. in the late ’80s, Nelly and Angie (J. Andrea “Yaya” Porras) have a Steel Magnolias relationship—but the jokes are fresh, the story is fast-paced, the tortillas are hot (if not homemade), and nobody dies. This extended one-act (it runs slightly over an hour) benefits from the excellent writing, as well as extremely well-paced direction by Antonio Tito Juarez, and the fine performances of Limón and Porras, who manage to convince us that they’re pushing 50.

How Else Am I Supposed to Know I Am Still Alive? 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $12-$15. California Stage and Teatro Espejo at the Three Penny Theatre in the California Stage complex, 2509 R Street; (916) 451-5822; www.calstage.org. Through August 28.