Affected by ‘Agents’ of Change

Jessica Litwak’s heartfelt “Secret Agents,” at the Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre, approaches the AIDS crisis from an intensely personal angle. Litwak, whose cousin died of AIDS complications, intends the play as a eulogy of sorts, a memorial to her lost loved one.

However, the play is only loosely autobiographical, a springboard for Litwak’s fictionalized dramatization that deals not so specifically with AIDS as it does with the disease’s aftermath and the psychological toll on those who are left behind.

Consumed with guilt and longing, the play’s narrator, Mirium (Litwak), looks back on her fractious relationship with her dead brother, David (Peter Paige, who plays Emmett on Showtime’s “Queer as Folk”). A successful Hollywood actor, David succumbs to AIDS on the cusp of the “cocktail” that could have prolonged his life.

Segueing back and forth in time, Litwak’s is a memory play, a nostalgic treatment of Mirium and David’s childhood bond and the social forces that eventually estrange them. As children, Mirium and David live a vivid fantasy life as secret agents, in emulation of their hero, James Bond (funny, suave George Hertzberg). As adults, they drift apart, separated by temperament, circumstance and, ultimately, death.

Litwak occasionally tends toward the florid, as when she characterizes AIDS as “a scary ride on some sadistic roller coaster in the dark.” And director Sue Hamilton’s otherwise smooth staging is marred by obvious moments, such as David and Bond’s obligatory kiss. However, strong performances by Litwak, Hertzberg and particularly Paige penetrate our benumbed psyches and bring forth rusty tears at last.

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* “Secret Agents,” Renberg Theatre in the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. $20. (323) 860-7300. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.