Between Pennsylvania Centre Stage and Penn State's Center for the Performing Arts, State College residents and university students have access to a wealth of theatrical opportunities. JoVic Productions members said they hope not only to add to this wealth, but also to provide playgoers with more diverse types of theater.

The six-person company, directed by Ron Siebert, will perform Tom Dulack's play Breaking Legs at 6:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at the Days Inn Penn State.

Breaking Legs is a comedy about three mobsters who think it might be entertaining to produce a play. The playwright tries desperately to not become tied to the mafia, but the action becomes complicated when a mob daughter falls for him.

The play's title is, of course, a combination of the theater superstition "break a leg" and the mobsters' affection for violence.

"Dulack's comedy is a marriage of Seinfeld and The Sopranos," said Jonathon Michael, one of the lead actors. "It's an interesting mix and a refreshing break from what people usually think of as theater."

Breaking Legs is being produced as dinner theater, which results in a very different kind of theater atmosphere.

"By necessity, the audience has to be smaller, but this gives us an intimacy that you just don't get with more typical kinds of theater. There's much more audience interaction," actor Sebastian DeGregorio III said.

In keeping with this idea, since most of the play occurs in an Italian restaurant, the company decided on a Mediterranean buffet for dinner, including dishes such as bay shrimp, pasta and chocolate cake.

"We want to create an atmosphere that makes the audience feel like they're there, and the food really adds to this," Michael said.

The company hopes to draw a diverse audience of both students and community members.

"The tickets are $30, which is reasonable for a student budget when you consider that the price includes both the performance and dinner," said Lynn Marshall, the leading actress.

There has also been talk of creating a dinner theater series, which would focus not only on performance but also on actor development, drawing on the talents from more experienced artists in the field.

"We'd like it to be a sort of gymnasium for the theater, where writers, actors and directors can come together and not only entertain but learn," Michael said.