An empowering story – “Level Up!” at LATC reviewed

An engaging and moving story about identity, courage and acceptance, Latino Theater Company’s technically innovative new play Level Up! is a wonderfully entertaining experience for all ages.

Desi López (Mathias Brinda) is a teen with a secret life, tentatively navigating the uncertainty between who the world expects her to be and who she knows herself to be. In her everyday life, she quietly wrestles with being perceived by her family as a boy while concealing the truth of her identity.

Bristling under the macho expectations of a traditionally-minded father, Desi escapes to a virtual world where she can be her true self – a warrior princess who embarks upon quests. Her cybernetic community is supportive and non-judgmental – something Desi craves at home and IRL.

When we first meet Desi, she’s arrived at an emotional crossroads and has decided to come out to her older brother Memo (Xol Gonzalez) inside the video game. We see Desi’s inner life burst into full color within ‘The Proxy,’ a vibrant virtual world where Desi finally steps into her truest self as a radiant seeker adorned with butterfly wings. Inside this imaginative realm, the siblings embark on an emotional and high-stakes quest that includes rescuing her beloved dog Azlan and striving to connect with the memory of their deceased Mami, played sympathetically by Sol Marina Crespo. Richard Azurdia is excellent as Papá. We get a wonderful performance from Andi René Christensen as the dog puppeteer as well as the talking dog Azlan within ‘The Proxy.’

There’s a true elegance to this enchanting play by Gabriel Rivas Gómez, especially in how deftly it intertwines grounded family dynamics with a lush, video game-inspired fantasy world. As the show’s director, Fidel Gómez brings this heartfelt story to the stage with aplomb, managing the energy and drama of the story on all its levels, spanning from intimate family scenes to the grand adventurous ones.

Visually, Level Up! creates a striking fusion of stagecraft and digital imagination, using its design elements to move fluidly between that grounded family reality and the dynamic virtual world of ‘The Proxy.’ The scenic design by François-Pierre Couture is especially noteworthy as he establishes a flexible, multi-level game-like environment that feels both theatrical and cinematic, allowing locations to shift seamlessly as Desi’s journey progresses. Upbeat music makes scene transitions a joy to watch rather than a chore.

The production’s overall design team supports this dual-world structure with inventive use of light, swirling visual projection, sound – and even bubbles! – all helping to distinguish the mundane everyday life from the heightened logic of the game world. These transitions are not just aesthetic but emotional, reinforcing Desi’s movement between concealment and self-realization.

Mad props to production stage manager Ariana Michel, assisted by Crystal Nieto, for executing a 90-minute play packed with (reportedly) over 700 stage cues. Wow. Innovative sound design is by composer Robert J. Revell. Fabulous costume design is by Catarina Copelli. Gorgeous lighting design is by Xinyuan Li (lee) with extraordinarily creative projection design devised by Hsuan-Kuang Hsieh.

Commissioned by the theater company’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group, LATC’s world premiere Level Up! is a must-see production.

Level Up!

Written by Gabriel Rivas Gómez

Directed by Fidel Gómez

Runs through May 3, 2026 on Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Runtime – about 90 minutes (no intermission).

Level Up! is appropriate for ages 10 and up. Free child care for kids ages 4 and up, featuring fun, age-appropriate activities led by a trusted childcare team, will be provided during Saturday matinee performances; all participants must be potty-trained.

Tickets to Level Up! range from $10 – for all Thursday performances – to $48 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, except students and seniors, who pay only $24. A Family Pack (two adults and two children) is available for performances on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (except previews and the opening matinee on Saturday, April 4) for $100, with a $20 add-on ticket for additional guests.

The Los Angeles Theatre Center is located at 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90013. Parking is available for $8 with box office validation at Los Angeles Garage Associate Parking structure, 545 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 (between 5th and 6th Streets, just behind the theater).

For more information and to purchase tickets, call (213) 489-0994 or go to latinotheaterco.org.