“Nobody can take care of himself. We think we can and then we find out we can’t.” – Mrs. Darnell

Life, death and longing (especially that last) have been the staples of four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s work in plays such as Love! Valour! Compassion! and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

His latest play, Unusual Acts of Devotion, brings five neighbors together on the roof (or “plage de tar,” as one character puts it) of a Greenwich Village apartment house. It’s a warm July evening, and young marrieds Leo (Joe Manganiello), a jazz clarinetist, and Vermont transplant Nadine (Maria Dizzi) have invited a few neighbors up to help celebrate their fifth anniversary and Nadine’s pregnancy. Unusual Acts of Devotion is in its West Coast premiere through Sunday, June 28, at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre. Trip Cullman (who helmed Six Degrees of Separation for the Old Globe in January) directs.

Chick (Richard Thomas), gay, lonely and a Gray Line tour guide by trade, still hasn’t recovered from lover Aaron’s suicide. Josie (Harriet Harris) is a mysteriously damaged and failed teacher whose Blanche DuBois-like indiscretion likely cost her her job. She’s just back from six months in rehab.

Also on the roof are two uninvited guests. One is the acerbic-tongued Mrs. Darnell (Doris Roberts), who has gone to the roof in search of peace and quiet and at the top of the play is trying to read a book with a flashlight in one hand and an apple in the other.

Climbing the fire escape, unseen by all, is a mysterious Man (Evan Powell), who could be the Grim Reaper or a serial murderer on the loose – which explains the noisy police helicopter that repeatedly buzzes overhead.

It’s a disparate group, one difficult to imagine partying together. But this is New York, known for diversity and, like many other places, full of variously damaged people, trying to get through their days and lives with a little grace and joy. And here, on this roof, McNally will reveal their complex interconnections, many of which will leave you scratching your head.

McNally ordinarily shines in depiction of the love-starved, and at least three of these characters fall into that category. But in this case (perhaps out of desire to join the one-act play stampede), he leaves out too much information about all of them to make us care. Oh, they each get a McNally trademark soliloquy, but the whole adds up to old-style opera, where the singer comes to the footlights and sings, unrelated to plot or to any other character.

The play was originally written around Kathy Bates, who was to play Mrs. Darnell; when she pulled out, the script was rewritten. I don’t know what the original script looked like, but now Mrs. Darnell is the wisecracking geezer character we see increasingly in films. Unlikable throughout, by the time she reveals her own need for human connection, it’s too late to engage us.

Thomas, the only original cast member, shines as Chick, heartbroken but hopeful, ever on the lookout despite his claim that “Aaron was the last cookie on my plate.”

The only uncontestable fact about Josie is that, as Nadine tells her, “you make bad choices.” That certainly seems to be true (Chick was one of them; go figure), but we never find out why, what motivates her or why the others refer to her as a “diva.”

Manganiello’s Leo is a nice-looking guy, and even kind to Mrs. Darnell; it’s easy to understand why Dizzia’s Nadine would fall for him. But it’s mystifying that she put up with his dalliances early in the marriage.

On the upside, production values are high, with Santo Loquasto’s terrific rooftop set, excellent lighting by Ben Stanton and sound by John Gromada. And a few sequences where characters dance together are the best of the show.

McNally has written some of my all-time favorite plays. Everyone’s entitled to an occasional clunker.

Unusual Acts of Devotion plays through Sunday, June 28, at the Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse. Shows Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 7 p.m.; matinées Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 858-550-1010 or visit www.lajollaplayhouse.org.

John Patrick Shanley, winner of the 1987 Oscar for his Moonstruck screenplay, probably knows his way around Hollywood better than he cares to.

Whatever happened to this talented writer between that film and the less-than-stellar follow-up Joe Versus the Volcano probably inspired the 1993 Hollywood farcical satire Four Dogs and a Bone, playing through June 28 at New Village Arts Theatre. Joshua Everett Johnson stars and directs.

Shanley brings both worlds together in the persons of bickering actresses Collette (Amanda Sitton), seasoned in live theater, and young starlet Brenda (Kristianne Kurner), pretty, dim and talent challenged, who insists she gets what she wants by chanting. She is now chanting to become famous. Collette wants this role to catapult her to leading actress level, lest she be branded a character actress and get stuck playing roles like “somebody’s aunt with cancer.”

The women share a trailer during shooting for a film by novice screenwriter Victor (Johnson), trying to defend his property against one crucial script change: whether the hero lives or dies. Death is decreed, but both Collette and Brenda want Johnny to live – and, more important, to be the ones who save him.

Meanwhile, producer Bradley (Eric Poppick) has only one concern, and it isn’t quality: He wants to bring the film in under (or at least not over) budget. He views character as “an obstacle to overcome.” But Bradley has a personal problem: a painful boil on his backside that serves as fodder for a few, frankly, unfunny jokes.

Hollywood satires are a time-honored theatrical genre – think David Rabe’s Hurlyburly, for example, or David Mamet’s vicious Speed-the-Plow. Four Dogs is a gentler piece, farcical rather than mean, funny rather than hostile, requiring a fast pace to keep it moving. Johnson does that as director and proves a quick study as babe-in-the-woods screenwriter Victor. His facial expressions and movements provide a fascinating course in acting technique.

Poppick’s Bradley is everything you wouldn’t want in a producer: a bean counter with no art or even a soul, maniacally focused on finishing the picture.

Sitton’s Collette is deliciously bitchy, even imperious as she tries to pull rank on her younger colleague. Kurner’s chanting Brenda is everything the stereotypical ingenue should be, but more fun to watch.

Kudos to Tim Wallace for his clever set design and efficient crew that keeps the pace going with quick changes.

Four Dogs and a Bone is not vintage Shanley; this is both slight and unoriginal. But the right cast and director can make it a delightful evening. New Village Arts does just that.

Four Dogs and a Bone plays through Sunday, June 28, at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. Shows Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinées Saturday at 3 and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 760-433-3245 or visit www.newvillagearts.org.