Sorry, men, but you’ll have to stay at home for this one.

Most women can likely recall the coming-of-age gantlets they endured, whether buying their first bras, getting over junior high crushes or keeping detailed tabs on friends and enemies. But few discuss these travails publicly, and even fewer poke fun at them in group settings. Fear not, because “Girls Only” has returned. The two-woman comedy show, which plays at the Avenue Theater Jan. 18- Feb. 24, addresses these issues and more in an appropriately women-only audience…

We sat down with founder-actors Linda Klein and Barbara Gehring — two-thirds of the local improv troupe A.C.E. — to talk about the origins and intent of the 3-year-old show.

Q: Why did you bring back “Girls Only”?

Klein: We took it to a theater festival in Winnipeg, Canada (the Winnipeg Fringe Festival), to see if it had legs outside of our fan base, and people seemed to be clamoring for it.

Gehring: Yeah, A.C.E. had performed in Winnipeg a number of years ago together. We’re improvisers by trade and by heart so that was natural. We had done the March dates of (the show), we’d done the July dates, and we knew we needed to take this to the next level. Performing at the festival really helped up discover the things that we wanted to reinvent with (the show).

I understand you developed the show after jointly reading your junior high diaries.

Gehring: Linda had found her diaries, which were a series of spiral notebooks, and said, “You would not believe what I found. I’ve got to share them with you.” We read the passages to each other in her kitchen, and we were laughing so hard and just enjoying ourselves. In that moment we thought, “This needs to be shared. We have the makings for a show.”

How self-conscious were you about putting your lives out there for everyone to see?

Gehring: The show happened so organically because it’s really based in truth. It’s honest but at the same time comedic and silly.

Klein: I just want to make sure people aren’t thinking they’re coming to see “The Vagina Monologues.”

Since I’ll never be able to see it, how would you describe the tone?

Klein: It’s uncomfortable, but in a very fun way.

Gehring: Women can laugh about (these) things in the show because we were all 13 once. It’s an undercurrent that runs beneath everything.

Klein: It’s lighthearted and more of a joyful sharing of childhood than any sort of deep emotional exploration. It’s like that junior high-type of ground.

I know you didn’t have director Luanne Nunes de Char at the outset. How did she change the show?

Klein: She pushed us to take it to a more professional, theatrical level. We got to a point where we couldn’t see it anymore, and a new set of eyes was great to help it move along.

I understand there are also moments where you appear in your underwear. Is that why you made the audience women-only?

Gehring: Not exactly, but we didn’t want to unintentionally sexualize it, because that’s not what it’s about.

Klein: The beauty of where we’re at right now is that women have worked really hard to give us choices as far as how we behave. Part of that is a complete freedom to be girlie if you want. We’re emphasizing the girlie now because we’ve not always been that way in our adult lives.

Has any man ever seen the show?

Gehring: Actually, there was a radio reporter that wanted to dress up as a woman and come to the show, but we convinced him that it was completely ethical and legal to have a woman-only show. There are shelters just for women, right?

Klein: We’re really clear that the show is not exclusive to be exclusive, and it’s not man-bashing. In fact, it’s not about men at all. It’s got that kind of energy you’d find at a bridal shower — but maybe not that girlie.

How do you hope people are going to feel after the show?

Klein: We want tears down their cheeks and their faces to hurt from smiling. And maybe a lively conversation after the show about what’s in their own diaries.

Gehring: To me the best movies and performances are ones that make it personal, that take you out of the show and make you start thinking about your own experience or life because of what you’re sharing. But definitely tears and hurt faces — maybe stomachs a little sore. What we found from the last one was this energy from the show was like, “We’ve gotta bring more people.” And through word-of-mouth it’s been so fun to see that.