Review: ‘Level Up!’ a visual feast at Latino Theater Company

From left: Mathias Brinda, Xol Gonzalez, and Khalif J. Gillett in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

From the moment you walk into the Latino Theater Company to see “Level Up!,” you feel like you’re in The Matrix. Credit for that goes to scenic designer François-Pierre Couture, lighting designer Xinyuan Li, sound designer Robert J. Revell and especially projections designer Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh. It’s not often that the creative team behind a play is mentioned first in a theatre review, but the design of “Level Up!” is outstanding and deserves to be front and center.

Unlike traditional theatrical projections, Hsieh’s envelop the stage and completely transform it into “the Proxy,” an “open world adventure” (not a video game, as we’re reminded) that the characters navigate as Gabriel Rivas Gómez’s story plays out. The multi-faceted, cinematic feel of those images, along with the dynamisms of Li’s lighting and Revell’s resonant and expansive soundscape, make the staged play feel almost immersive at times.

Mathias Brinda in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

The world of the Proxy is employed by playwright Gómez as a means to explore the inner lives and memories of his characters, as well as to question and comment on the ways in which virtual realities are becoming much more intertwined with our “IRL” (in real life) existences during a time of rapid technological transformation. To his credit, playwright Gómez enhances the script’s storytelling by maximizing its theatricality through his conception of audiovisual elements within the Proxy.

This world premiere of “Level Up!” is jointly commissioned by the Latino Theater Company and the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, as part of the Generation Now initiative supported by the Mellon Foundation. One of initiative’s goals is “to expand the canon of work produced for multigenerational audiences” (which in this case refers to those aged 10 and up). For younger children (ages 4 and up), in what will hopefully become a trend in the arts, the Latino Theater Company is offering free childcare during all Saturday matinee performances.

From left: Sol Marina Crespo and Andi René Christensen in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

The story centers on Desi López (Mathias Brinda), a trans tween who has yet to come out to her Latino family, which is dealing with its own challenges IRL. Desi and her brother Memo (Xol Gonzalez) are distraught that their dog Azlan (Andi René Christensen) is dying. Papá (Richard Azurdia), an old-school Latino father, believes Azlan needs to be put down, albeit reluctantly. He has also been his kids’ sole caregiver since Mami (Sol Marina Crespo) passed away years earlier when Desi was a baby.

To try to save Azlan, Desi and Memo enter the Proxy and the adventure begins. Within that world, Azlan can speak and move like a human. Memo also sees a version of Mami and, in chasing after her, the group encounters 8eatles the 8ard (Khalíf J. Gillett), whom they free and who becomes their guide on their quest to find the Eye of the Beholder, which is their only hope to keep Azlan alive.

They battle a number of hostile creatures, the most powerful of which is Smallfish (Wiley Naman Strasser), the play’s archvillain and longtime denizen of the Proxy. As the story moves back and forth between the Proxy and the real world, the characters “level up” as they make choices that lead to personal breakthroughs.

From left: Mathias Brinda and Wiley Naman Strasser in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

While the Proxy serves as a place for Desi to live authentically, and as a metaphor for a number of issues playwright Gómez tackles, the rules of that world and the characters’ mission within it are only briefly explained through exposition. As a result, the backstory behind Eye of the Beholder, the riddle posed by Smallfish, the need for an axe to defeat the Eye’s guardian Nanas (also played by Azurdia) and other such elements of the story don’t effectively reel in the audience, as we’re trying to figure out what the mystery is instead of how to solve it. However, by the time we do, the characters have already told us the answer and the action moves on.

The dialogue is chock full of 1980s and ‘90s pop-cultural references, so for those of us of a certain age, the jokes land nicely and the musical numbers engender a sense of nostalgia. When Memo talks about losing his “brother,” 8eatles the 8ard retorts with the cutting line, “How fortunate you are that your grief is a choice,” reminding Memo, “The only thing you’ve lost is a pronoun.” While that line lands powerfully, some of the other life lessons in the dialogue are a bit too on the nose. Perhaps that’s just a feature of a genre targeted at a cross-generational audience, but it could have been handled with a bit more subtlety.

From left: Xol Gonzalez, Andi René Christensen and Khalif J. Gillett in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

Director Fidel Gómez does a fantastic job precisely coordinating all the technical elements needed to bring the Proxy to life. The only minor quibble is the length of time it takes for actors to move set pieces during transitions between the Proxy and IRL worlds. Perhaps a few stagehands (dressed as NPCs—non-player characters) might have been a more efficient solution?

Standouts among the cast include Gillett, who provides a lot of the laughs and brings charisma, verve and a great singing voice; Azurdia, who deftly traverses the range between machismo and vulnerability; and Strasser, who dives into the delicious menace of Smallfish with delight.

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the final member of the design team, Catarina Copelli, whose costumes truly help create the characters: from Desi’s LED butterfly wings that give goddess vibes, to 8eatles the 8ard’s velvety Elizabethan finery, to Memo’s “Steampunk Slash” ensemble and Smallfish’s grunge-inspired Sith cloak.

From left: Richard Azurdia and Mathias Brinda in “Level Up!” (Photo by Jenny Graham)

The ending of the play, in which in even Papá levels up, offers a beautiful moment of vulnerability between father and daughter. There were definitely some wet eyes and sniffles in the audience (including yours truly) during a recent performance. As the piece is developed further, if other such tender moments could be handled with a similarly light touch, it would deepen the emotional resonance of a story with such an important message.

“Level Up!” continues through May 3 at the Latino Theater Company in the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, with shows Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets and other information, visit LatinoTheaterCo.org or call the box office at 213-489-0994. Run time is 90 minutes with no intermission.