A swarthy drama unfolding on the Lawrence Arts Center stage proves there’s nothing like a good pirate story to level the playing field between men and boys.

When the swords start flying in the Seem-To-Be Player’s production of “Treasure Island,” it’s hard to tell who’s having more fun: 12-year-old Zach Silvers or his grown-up co-stars.

Silvers, a sixth-grader at Wakarusa Valley School, plays youthful hero Jim Hawkins in the adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of swashbuckling treasure seekers. He admires his older peers on the mostly male cast and feels right at home with them onstage.

“It’s fun to work with them because I can laugh and have jokes with them. It’s not like I’m talking with an adult — like my dad’s friends, where they kind of want me to go away,” Silvers says. “But with these guys, we share the same passion: We love to act. So it’s not as much me being a kid with them, but them being kids also.”

Jeremy Auman, who plays Long John Silver, can attest to that. He read “Treasure Island” as a boy and holds it up as the quintessential pirate story — the one he and his buddies would act out in melodramatic fashion years ago.

In fact, Auman recalls, when fight choreographer Doug Weaver first started putting together the combat scenes, Jerry Mitchell (who plays Morgan, Silver’s right-hand man) did an ad lib maneuver with his sword that the choreographer decided to keep.

“After rehearsal, I said to Jerry, ‘That was great when you threw that in'” Auman says. “And he said, ‘Man I’ve been fighting with swords and sticks in my front yard since we were 5 years old. I developed that maneuver when I was 7. Of course it’s going to make it into my pirate performance.”

Cast members Chris Waugh, left, and Zach Silvers rehearse a scene from Treasure

This version of “Treasure Island,” directed by Seem-To-Be artistic director Ric Averill, was written by Nashville Children’s Theatre’s Scot Copeland, who is working in Kansas City directing “Between Land and Sea: A Selkie Myth” at the Coterie Theatre. The story follows Jim Hawkins, who comes to possess Billy Bones’ treasure map and sets sail for adventure with Squire Trelawney (Charles Whitman) and Dr. Livesey (Don Schawang). But buccaneer Long John Silver raises the stakes, tempting Jim with friendship and fortune. In the end, Jim learns more than he ever wanted to know about daring exploits, bravery and honor.

For Zach, though, the opportunity to portray Jim in the show has been a welcome learning experience.

“I can’t stop smiling since I got the part,” he says, baring a set of shiny silver braces wrapped in blue rubber bands. “I love being on the stage and making the crowd feel suspense or scared or tense. … Actually, that’s my favorite place in the world is to be on the stage with the bright lights shining down on me.”

The same could be said for Auman, who, at 33, has been acting, directing and producing in Lawrence’s independent theater scene for more than a decade. When he heard that “Treasure Island” was on the troupe’s schedule, he expressed interest in being part of the show. He had no idea Averill would offer him the role of Silver.

Audio: Zach Silvers on performing with older actors Audio: Zach Silvers on his nerves about performing Audio: Rehearsal clip of “Treasure Island”

“I would have never ASKED for that,” Auman says. “I would have been happy to play Pirate No. 3 or Pirate No. 5, you know, with no name and an eye patch and a sword.

“About every three years I get a role that I play or a play that I’m directing where I call my mom and say, ‘You ought to come see this one.’ ‘Treasure Island,’ for sure, is one of those.”

And although the complexity of Auman’s character has presented him with challenges — believe it or not, Silver possesses a kind gentle side as well as a manipulative, booty-seeking side — his accent, at least, has not been a problem.

“The guys that I’m friends with and have grown up with, we’ll joke around and do pirate voices and tell pirate jokes and so on. When I talk about the character and think about the character, I slide into that drawl … that kind of cockney English, gutter accent that you don’t really have to be accurate on.”

As for Silvers, he’s hoping his turn as Jim Hawkins marks the beginning of a long career on stage and screen.

“I’ve had dreams of being an actor since very, very young,” he says. “Whenever I get my braces off, I’m sending in pictures to a commercial company. And I’m trying to do every audition I can.”