Confusing ‘Minds’ Has Good Intentions

“Two Men Losing Their Minds” is really two actors desperately trying to find the right comedic tone to pull off a dark “romantic comedy” in this Moving Arts production at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Michael Moss sets his piece in an AIDS hospice in 1993, beginning with Mark (Brad Henson) being comforted by Sandra (Brian Newkirk), the head of the hospice, on admittance. Dementia has already taken hold of Mark, who finds himself rooming with gab-fest Walter (also Newkirk). Despite Mark’s gradually weakening grip on reality, they become snippily attached to each other.

Under the direction of Michael Cooper, the scene transitions are choppy and the decision to have the two men portray different characters (the head of the hospice, the day nurse, the social worker, the nurse) and even switch roles (Henson gets to be Walter in one scene and Newkirk becomes Mark in another) is more disconcerting, if not visually confusing. In the end, despite the good intentions and wrenching subject matter, you just lose your patience well before the 90 minutes are up.

* “Two Men Losing Their Minds,” Los Angeles Theatre Center, Studio 5C, 514 S. Spring St. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. $18. (213) 622-8906. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.