AUBURN – Slapstick comedy will take center stage when L/A Arts Summer Youth Theatre presents the Shakespearean comedy “As You Like It” Friday, Aug. 20.

The performance in the Great Falls Performing Arts Center, at Academy and High streets, should last about 90 minutes.

“As You Like It” is a love story that’s complicated, in typical Shakespearean fashion, by mistaken identity. It embraces the dream of leaving the big city for a simpler life in the woods.

Director Michael Levine is putting his own twist on the play by giving it a contemporary setting and fashioning the characters as “‘Soprano’ characters” (New Jersey/ New York mafia types).

He’s also using music of the Frank Sinatra era. Levine is also stressing physical comedy situations and character-driven humor.

“I believe in comic shtick,” Levine said. “You know, the silent film stuff, where the characters can sit on a bench without talking for five minutes but get you laughing with their antics.” He also stresses the storytelling aspect of theater. He is interested in conveying to the audience what happens to each character and how they change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

This is Levine’s first year with L/A Arts Summer Theatre. He has a passion for Shakespeare and, although he has worked with high school students, wasn’t sure what to expect from this mixed age group, with kids ranging from 8 to 14. After working with them for a week and a half, he said he’s impressed by their talent, dedication and experience. In all, they will have three weeks to get the show together.

“These kids are great. They really grasp what is going on. I can give a lot of the same directions I would to adults, and they get it.”

Returning this session as visual artist and scenery designer is Sue Bennett. A metal artist by trade, she and intern Jack Donahue have created a tree out of wire mesh, tailpipes and other metal stuff that the cast has enhanced with cloth and plaster so it can be used as the central stage fixture.

Joining the team is Michael Toth as the assistant director. He is a recent graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a B.A. in theater arts. He’s been working with the kids on the nuts and bolts of acting as well as stage movement.

Proceeds will benefit the summer theater scholarship fund.