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Narrative
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An event in the script or an uneven portrayal that wrecks the intended emotional tenor of a scene or an entire piece.
In portrayals, when actors take it too big (start chewing the sets, rending the wardrobe, inserting pratfalls, etc.), they are level-breaking by going "over the top." If they play it too flat, they are breaking by way of "phoning it in."
It is much easier to level-break by going over the level than it is by going under the level.
You can, given the proper medications and directorial blandishments, eventually get an actor to either calm down or wake up. (Well, most of 'em, anyway.) In scripts, the problem is a little harder to pin down.
The most common level-breaker in a script is a jump from way-sad to way-ridiculous. The breaker is in the "way-" part, in the degree of emotion. Having a détente scene, something to break the tension a little after a sad bit is not a bad play, but it has to be done with some care.
The inverse of the usual Level Breaker is We Havent Learned Anything Yet, which drops an inappropriately serious moment into a comedy with all the subtlety of a falling anvil.
See also: Wall Banger, Narm
Examples: Anime
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