Photos: World Premiere of LEVEL UP! at Latino Theater Company

Latino Theater Company’s world premiere of “Level Up!,” a visually stunning, emotionally resonant, family-friendly new play by Gabriel Rivas Gómez is now in previews and will open Saturday at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. Performances continue through May 3.  Check out the photos below!

With director Fidel Gomez at the helm, “Level Up!” blends live performance with projection and inventive design to explore identity, family and transformation in an era increasingly shaped by virtual environments and simulated realities.

Desi López, a trans tween, is afraid to come out to her family. In her oversized hoodie, Desi is seen as a boy IRL (in real life). But inside The Proxy, a richly imagined virtual world within the ,play’s digital realm, Desi discovers the freedom to exist as her true self: a powerful female warrior with enormous butterfly wings who embarks on an epic quest to save her dying dog and reunite with her mother.

Desi is played by 14-year-old Mathias Brinda, with Xol Gonzalez as her older brother, Memo; Richard Azurdia as Papá; Sol Crespo as Mami; and Andi René Christensen as Azlan, her beloved dog. Khalif J. Gillett plays 8eatles the 8ard, a mystical guide within The Proxy, and Wiley Naman Strasser appears as Smallfish, a formidable creature of the virtual landscape. Mauricio Marte and Celeste Lanuza are understudies.