That’s one of the lessons hardcore gamers face in Leveling Up, the next production of UCF Theatre to be presented Jan. 16-26 in the Black Box Theatre.

Leveling Up is a contemporary look at 20something roommates two years out of college who practically live in their basement, spending most of their time playing video games.

But when the National Security Agency hires one of the players to use his skills to launch actual remote military attacks, relationships change as the roommates straddle the fuzzy line between virtual and real worlds, and what it means to make difficult choices while growing up.

“Leveling Up speaks very specifically to a young audience. The play transcends being only for them and is quite universal, but it resonates very strongly with a generation that has grown up playing extremely realistic video games,” said director Mark Routhier. “Fantasy vs. reality is the thematic undercurrent. And with social media and texting and facetiming, etc., becoming more and more prevalent in today’s culture, how do young people navigate these two worlds?��Leveling Up explores these questions in an extremely compelling way.”

The play debuted nationally early this year. Routhier, an assistant professor of directing and acting at UCF, said he came across the script by playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer when it was read at the National New Play Network’s annual showcase of new works. Routhier also is director of new play development at Orlando Shakespeare Theater, a partnership with the university.

The term “leveling up” applies to a player who earns enough experience or points to reach a new level of the game. The higher level often brings the ability to use new weapons, access new places or take on new assignments.

Routhier said he doesn’t spend much time playing video games himself, but understands how addictive and prevalent they can be for gamers, like those in the play.

“It is when they feel the most connected, the most powerful, and ironically, the most peaceful,” he said. “Things in the play happen to change that.”

Student actor Patrick Sylvester’s character, Ian – the Nevada state video-game champion hired by the NSA – said he thinks audiences who come to Leveling Up will learn just what kind of psychological damage evolves from being too consumed by the virtual world and how important it can be to connect with people without having to hide behind a screen.

“When one becomes too desensitized from the physical world, our perceptions of reality can become altered and warped and change how we behave and act to those who actually care about us,” said Sylvester, a junior with a double major in theatre performance and English literature.

“There’s also a level of understanding that each of these characters needs to just not only be honest with those around them about what is going on, but also being honest with themselves and knowing what exactly it is that they need to do to get their lives in order.”

Sylvester said his character fulfills his life by spending it on the screen, recluse to those around him and separated emotionally, although desperately wishing he could connect with people better.

Routhier said the play offers up several moral lessons about lying, trust and jealousy.

“Ultimately we learn that we are frail and fantastic creatures and we are the sum of the decision we make,” he said.

Production at a glance

Leveling Up

Written By Deborah Zoe Laufer

Directed by Mark Routhier

(This production contains profanity.)

8 p.m. Jan. 16-18 and Jan. 23-25

2 p.m. Jan. 19 and 26

Theatre UCF’s Black Box Theatre

Price: Standard $20, Senior $18, Student $10; group discounts available

Box Office Phone: 407- 823-1500

Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday:��noon to 6 p.m. and two hours before performances

Theatre UCF invites anyone with a good imagination to its next production, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougement (As Told by Himself), an astounding story of bravery, survival – and a little bit of embellishment.

Written by Donald Margulies, author of several plays including Dinner with Friends, which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Shipwrecked! is an adaptation of the Victorian memoirs of the main character. It is suitable for imaginative audiences of all ages.

Director Mark Brotherton expects the audience to connect with the show at the Black Box Theatre because the performance has its basis in storytelling.����

“We all grew up with people telling us stories – before we go to bed, sitting around a campfire, listening to our grandparents in front of the fireplace,” Brotherton said. “Shipwrecked uses this device of storytelling and then adds elements of theatre to make it even more exciting.”

And in this account, the play examines how far we’re willing to blur the line between fact and fiction to be remembered.

Eric Earley, a junior in the BFA acting program at UCF, said he was drawn to perform in the play because it pulled him into the adventurer’s world, which stretches over more than a half century of the storyteller’s life.

“I feel blessed to tell this man’s amazing adventure night after night,” Early said. “Louis and I are more similar then different. I find it so much fun to play Louis because of how full of wonder and excitement he is. A lot of that wonder and excitement is what drives me as a person as well.

Brotherton said his favorite part of working on the show was the way the cast, crew and production team added to the process of creating the show.

“We listened to all ideas and incorporated as many of them as we could. It is definitely an ensemble piece,” he said.

Production at a glance

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougement (As Told by Himself)

Playwright: Donald Margulies

Directed by Mark Brotherton

8 p.m. Nov. 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23

2 p.m. Nov. 17, 24

Black Box Theatre

(Theatre patrons attending the Nov. 21 performance need to allow extra time to get to the theatre because of a football game on campus. Patrons should park in Lots B4 or B6. A parking permit, which will email to you by Theatre UCF before the performance, will be required. Print it out and have it displayed on your dashboard while on campus. Golf cart shuttles will be available in the parking lot to take passengers to the theater.)

Price: Standard $20, Senior $18, Student $10; Group discounts available

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando FL 32816

Box Office Phone: 407-823-1500

Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday:�� noon to 5 p.m. and 2 hours before performances������������������������������������������������������������������������

For more information about Theatre UCF, visit .

��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

The play focuses on the human spirit of curiosity and how a small bit of impropriety can cause the biggest scandal. When Theo Maske’s wife, Louise, has an accidental slip of her underpants in public, her respectable husband decides to keep her hidden from public view in hopes of avoiding any further scandal. His plan starts to crumble as witnesses of the event decide that they want to see a little bit more.��

A story originally written by playwright Carl Sternheim, The Underpants was adapted by comedian Steve Martin.

“There is a line in the play that says, ‘Never underestimate the power of a glimpse of lingerie.’ It is probably just as true now as it was when the play was first written,” said director Kate Ingram. “It’s about the voyeuristic tendencies of people, that they like to peek. People may not like it, but it’s true and it may just be a source of power.

“Though it is a play written in 1910 Germany, Steve Martin adapted it, so it feels very modern and contemporary, set in 1910 Germany right before the first World War. One might think it would be dark humor but it’s not bleak—it’s quite funny. It’s silly and funny with a lot of socio-political humor thrown in.”

Leading the troupe of actors taking on this comedy is second year MFA student Jeff Nathan, playing the role of the curmudgeonly Theo Maske. In addition to being cast as a lead in The Underpants, Nathan is balancing his responsibilities as a graduate student while raising his newborn daughter with his wife.��

Of his many time commitments Nathan said, “It’s a challenge to be able to balance being a first-year teacher and being able to take a full course load of grad classes, and also to be cast in a show and also to have a baby, but all in all I chose this career path knowing that grad school was an exhausting yet fantastic journey that I hoped to take.”

Nathan is one of two graduate students that are a part of the cast, the other being Ryan M. Skiles, who is portraying the role of Klinglehoff. Having the two graduate students as part of the cast brings a role of mentoring into rehearsals.

Olivia Grace Murphy, a senior in the BFA Acting class, portrays the role of Louise, Theo’s scandal-causing wife. For an undergraduate student, the opportunity to act alongside graduate students has brought about its own lessons, she said��

“The graduate students are a joy to work with. It’s refreshing to work with them on stage,” she said. “Both Jeff and Ryan have been out in the real world and have so many different life experiences that they can bring to the situation. I really enjoy having the chance to work with actors of varying levels of experience.”��

Rounding out the cast are Courtney Kaye Kirby (Gertrude Deuter), Jesse Hinton (Frank Versati), and Daniel Annone (Benjamin Cohen).

Production at a glance

The Underpants

By Steve Martin

Adapted from Carl Sternheim

Directed by Kate Ingram

8 p.m.: Sept. 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28

���������������� Oct. 3, 4, 5

2 p.m.: Sept. 22, 29

UCF Black Box Theater

Price: Standard $20, Senior $18, Student $10; group discounts available

Box Office Phone: 407- 823-1500

Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday:��noon to 6 p.m. and two hours before performances

������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

The play centers around architect Bernard (Patrick Sylvester), who, with the help of his long-time buddy Robert (Eric Earley) and his surly maid Bertha (Kate Ingram), juggles three fiancées (Emily Schwartz, Danielle Miller, and Kim Hough), all flight attendants with different travel schedules. There is much door slamming, physical and verbal comedy, and sexual innuendo as Bernard’s meticulous timetables fail and the women converge upon the apartment at once.

Comedies such as Boeing Boeing aren’t easy for actors. Director Mark Brotherton focuses his attention on the benefits to the students. “Farces like Boeing help them learn pace and timing—both having to come from incredibly hard active listening,” he said. “And on top of that, it needs to be believable.

“In comedy, the actor has to believe the situation and the stakes. And the best comedies are like this one. They occur when normal people – at least in their own eyes – are thrown into incredibly abnormal situations. Their world has been thrown out of order, and they will all try anything and everything to get it back into order.”

In addition to learning about timing, there are plenty of foreign dialects in the play for the students to master. The play takes place in Paris, so Bertha speaks with a French accent. The three flight attendants are from Italy, Germany and New York.

Miller, who plays the role of Italian flight attendant Gabrielle, transferred to UCF this summer and is in her first UCF production. “I had never used an Italian dialect prior to my audition, but I watched a lot of movies in order to get the hang of it. I’m channeling Sophia Loren and Penelope Cruz in Nine.”

The practice doesn’t end with rehearsal. “I work at Lazy Moon,” said Miller, “and find myself delivering pizzas with an Italian accent.”

Brotherton agrees that there are benefits for audience members, too.

“Boeing Boeing is just a good time,” he said. “Mad Men is one of the biggest hits on television. And Boeing Boeing, well, it’s like Mad Men without any valium or scotch to calm the characters down.”
Production at a glance:

Boeing Boeing

Written by Marc Camoletti

Translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans

Directed by Mark Brotherton

8 p.m.: June 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, July 12, 18, 20

2 p.m.: June 16, June 23, July 14

Theatre UCF Black Box

Price: Standard $20, senior $18, student $10; group discounts available

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando

Box office phone: 407-823-1500

Box office hours: Monday through Friday:��noon to 5 p.m. and two hours before performances

For more information about Theatre UCF, visit .

No Sex Please, We’re British is directed by Theatre UCF department chair Christopher Niess. The show runs June 7-17 in the Black Box Theatre.

As in most farces, the plot is simple: a straight-laced newlywed couple orders Scandinavian glassware and but instead receives an unwelcomed delivery of pornography. Farcical antics ensue as they try to ditch the scandalous contents from friends, parents, bosses and the law, and try to stop the persistent proprietor.

No Sex Please, We’re British is an active play, with doors slamming, characters falling down, and high-stake action. The cast has just three weeks of rehearsal to pull together all of the blocking and timing, but also has another skill to master in that time: Because the characters are British, the cast members have to perfect their dialects.

“It would be such a different play if it weren’t in dialect,” said Maggie Langlais, who is playing Frances Hunter, one of the lead roles. “A lot of the comedy stems from the accents, because the British accent is interpreted as being more reserved. It wouldn’t be as funny if it were ‘No Sex Please, We’re Italian.’”

“Teaching young American students a new dialect is almost trickier than teaching a new language,” said dialect coach Kate Ingram. “They are reading scripted words on the page, trying to act believably, but they are also being asked to speak differently—this can throw an actor—‘I don’t sound like myself, I’m not sure I’m believable.’”.

“I always remind the actor that the character needs to speak this way!��That’s the fun part of working on dialect. We try to find some time away from the on-your-feet-rehearsal business, so that the actors can slow down and live inside the words and remember why they are saying those words.”

Whit Emerson plays the role of Leslie Bromhead, the district manager of a bank. He has one of the few upper-class roles in the show. “Working with Kate not only helped my dialect, but it helped me develop the character. Everyone else in the play is working class, but maybe Leslie went to a private school or talked like Winston Churchill.”

“I can’t read the script without an accent anymore,” said Kristin Shoffner. “The dialect provides a rhythm for the words. It becomes like a song that we are dancing to on stage.” Kristin is cast in the role of Eleanor Hunter.��

Theatre UCF is on the UCF campus near the intersection of ����ֱ�� Boulevard and Alafaya Trail in east Orlando. Performances begin at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays.

To purchase tickets or for ticket information call the box office at 407-823-1500. Standard tickets are $17 ($15 for seniors; $10 for students) and group rates are available. It is recommended to purchase tickets in advance, available through the Theatre UCF box office. UCF offers accommodations to make the theatre more accessible to patrons with disabilities—for assistance, please call the box office in advance.

Summer at a glance:

No Sex Please, We’re British

By Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot

Directed by Christopher Niess

June 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16 at 8 p.m.

June 10, 17 at 2 p.m.

Black Box Theatre

Price: Standard $17, Senior $15, Student $10; Group discounts available

Subscriptions: $40 standard, $36 senior, $20 student

Address: 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando

Box Office Phone: 407-823-1500

Box Office Hours: Tuesday through Friday: noon to 5 p.m. and 2 hours before performances

������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

For more information about Theatre UCF, visit .

Contact: Heather Gibson, Theatre UCF; heather.gibson@ucf.edu; 407-823-1732

��

Theatre UCF is a program in the School of Performing Arts at the ����ֱ��. The department’s graduate and undergraduate programs focus on providing a competitive edge to theatre artists seeking professional theatre careers, as well as to future creative intellectual leaders. The program offers theatrical presentations year-round to the public at the east Orlando campus. For more information about attending performances call 407-823-1500 or visit .

The One Act Festival, nicknamed OAF, addresses an educational need for students to take larger roles in the production process, in addition to the work they do with the theatre department.

The short plays and directors are selected by the officers of Project Spotlight. This spring the plays are The Unwanted by Walter Wykes, Road Trip by Melissa Landy, House of the Holy Moment by Cary Pepper, Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady, and Stingray by Sam Liguori.

“I have spent about three years now, on stage and off, and the experience is different every time,” said Roger Thatcher, president of Project Spotlight, who has helped choose many of the shows produced by OAF. ��“We’re really excited about having original pieces by students this semester. That captures the spirit of what OAF is all about.”

Two of the plays, Road Trip and Stingray were written by students in the UCF theatre department. Melissa Landy, who wrote Road Trip, also had an original piece in the fall semester One Act Festival.

��“Stingray��can be��considered a��Theatre for Social Change piece in its elements of dealing with the mentally unstable,” writer Sam Liquori said.��“I ask the question to the audience ‘Does a diagnosis actually make a difference?’”

Musical Theatre senior Angela Damato, who is directing Stingray, said it has been an intimidating experience.

“I want to be true to the playwright, but she has allowed me freedom to guide the process and room to grow and make mistakes,” Damato said. “It’s also a blessing to have her with us, so we can directly ask her questions as opposed to leaving everything up to interpretation.”

Project Spotlight’s One Act Festival will be held in the Black Box at the ����ֱ�� at 7 p.m. April 12, 13 and 15. ��There will also be a matinee on Sunday, April 15, at 2 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

The play is the first installment of Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, which consists of ten plays that chronicle the African-American experience in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in the 1900s. The Cycle includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning plays Fences and The Piano Lesson. The Piano Lesson will be presented locally by Seminole State College in February.

In Gem of the Ocean, newly freed slaves find themselves at the home of Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old former slave and renowned “soul-cleanser.” Citizen Barlow comes to Aunt Ester seeking to be absolved of a crime that has thrust the Pittsburgh community into riots. With the help of some accomplices, Aunt Ester launches Citizen on a journey aboard the legendary slave ship, Gem of the Ocean, to the City of Bones, where Citizen is plunged into his ancestors’ suffering and the weight of his wrongs.

“Gem of the Ocean is wonderfully rich with the intricate layers of the African American pre- and post-slavery experience,” said Be Boyd, a UCF associate professor who is performing the role of Aunt Ester. “The spirituality and humanity of this piece are palpable. It is one of the last two plays August Wilson wrote before his death; he knew his time was not long for this earth when he wrote this beautiful story. This play is a ‘spiritual imprint’ and one of the greatest gifts he left us.”

Director Julia Listengarten explained that the play is not short—it runs two and a half hours—but that the story needs to unravel and is beautiful in its construction.

“Gem of the Ocean infuses realism with poetry, concrete detail with symbolism, humor with tragedy, realistic dialogue with ritual, cultural specificity with universality and timelessness,” said Listengarten.

During Gem of the Ocean’s 2004-05 run on Broadway, the play received five Tony nominations and The New York Times called the play “a swelling battle hymn of transporting beauty. Theatergoers who have followed August Wilson’s career will find in Gem a touchstone for everything else he has written.”

Theatre UCF is located on the UCF campus near the intersection of ����ֱ�� Blvd. and Alafaya Trail in East Orlando. The show runs from Nov. 17 -20 and Dec. 1-4 on Thursdays-Sundays, and shows begin at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays.

To purchase tickets or for ticket information call the box office at 407-823-1500. Tickets are $17.00 for adults, $15.00 for seniors over 55 and $10.00 for students, with group rates available.It is strongly recommended to purchase tickets in advance, available through the Theatre UCF box office. UCF offers accommodations to make the theatre more accessible to patrons with disabilities—for assistance, please call the box office in advance.

With book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise, “Dames At Sea” is a musical comedy inspired by 1930s Hollywood director and choreographer Busby Berkeley.�� “Dames At Sea” pays homage to “42nd Street,” complete with the theme of a young girl going to Broadway and making it big — plus an abundance of musical numbers, dancing and tapping.

The show opens Thursday, Nov. 18, and will run through Sunday, Dec. 5., on UCF’s main campus. All performances are scheduled in UCF’s smaller Black Box Theatre.

“It’s an intimate setting for an intimate musical,” says Earl Weaver, the show’s director and UCF’s coordinator of Musical Theatre.

Weaver adds that this “family-friendly, lighthearted romp” will not only be fun and entertaining, but it also will be eligible to participate in the well-revered American College Theatre Festival, or ACTF.

“We’ve never been able to have a full musical submitted for ACTF, so ‘Dames At Sea’ is the perfect opportunity to do so,” he said.

Performances of�� “Dames At Sea” will be Thursdays through Sundays from Nov. 18 until Dec. 5.

All shows begin at 8 p.m., except for the Sunday matinee, which will start at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students with their ID. Reservations are recommended and available through the box office at 407-823-1500. Group rates are available. The box office can assist with accommodations for patrons with disabilities.

The play, written by Central Florida native Kevin Christopher Snipes, tells the story of four teenage boys at a New England boarding school on the eve of World War II. They are brought together by their love of Shakespeare and torn apart by the impending war.

“The Chimes” opens this week as a full-scale production with many of last year’s cast members. The play, in the Black Box Theatre on UCF’s Orlando campus, runs from Thursday, Sept. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 10.

“’The Chimes’ rings out to remind us that unless a stand is taken, ignorance and hatred can rule not only an institution of higher education, but an entire civilization,” said director David Lee, an assistant professor of Theatre at UCF.

The cast combines the talents of several UCF Theatre students with three professional actors: Mark Brotherton, a UCF Theatre faculty member, Bob Dolan and noted film actor Tom Nowicki. Please note that this show includes adult themes and brief nudity.

Performances of�� “The Chimes” will be Thursdays through Saturdays from Sept. 23 until Oct. 9. A Sunday matinee performance will be Oct. 10.

All shows begin at 8 p.m., except for the Sunday matinee, which will start at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices are $17 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students with their ID. Reservations are recommended and available through the UCF Conservatory Theatre box office at 407-823-1500. Group rates are available. The box office can assist with accommodations for patrons with disabilities.

Read more about the production on Snipes’ and visit the UCF Conservatory Theatre to see listings for the rest of the 2010-11 season.