“You can’t always get what you want,” the Rolling Stones sang, “but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.” In Jonathan Marc Sherman’s dark comedy “Things We Want,” getting its regional debut at New Village Arts, three brothers struggle with what they believe they want — and subsequently clarify their needs.

Sty, Charlie and Teddy live in the 10th-story apartment left to them by their parents, who each jumped — five years apart — through the big window at the center of David Weiner’s evocative set. Left adrift by the suicides, the sons took different paths to solace. Sty turned to drugs and drink, Teddy became a dedicated follower of a self-help guru, and Charlie went to school to become a chef.

Now Charlie has abruptly quit, shattered by the breakup of his year-old romance. Teddy gives him advice straight from the guru guidebook, which Charlie finds useless, calling Teddy “pathologically positive.” Sty, being worldlier, tells Charlie to just move on to someone else. To help, he invites up Stella, a woman he met after an alcoholics’ meeting, then concocts an excuse to leave her and Charlie alone. In their mutual loneliness, they connect.

The second act picks up exactly a year later, and the world has wobbled. The guru turned out to be a scam artist who took lots of folks' money and fled the country, leaving Teddy devastated and a “pathologically negative” boozehound. Sty, meanwhile, has gone sober, replaced by Teddy as the family couch potato. Stella has come up for a dinner cooked by Charlie to celebrate the anniversary of their first meeting.

But there’s an undercurrent that swirls up when Charlie and Sty go grocery shopping, leaving Stella with Teddy.

In their separate quests for what they hope will make them happy, this wounded foursome displays deep flaws and various addictions, but Sherman’s intelligent, witty script keeps them understandable and often philosophical. As Sty says, voicing a key theme: “Time provides mounting evidence of our ability to survive.”

One line in the play inadvertently has a darker meaning because of recent news. Teddy mocks Sty’s comment about fighting alcoholism “one day at a time” by joking that Mackenzie Phillips (who starred in the sitcom by that name) probably got awfully tired of hearing that expression when she was in rehab. These days, of course, Phillips’ rehab is barely mentioned amid her revelations about incest with her father.

The cast, insightfully directed by Lisa Berger, hits most of the notes, led by Joshua Everett Johnson and Rachael VanWormer who simmer and sizzle as Teddy and Stella. Tim Parker (Charlie) occasionally lost some good lines by speaking too fast, and Adam Brick (Sty) was more convincing sober than drunk.

Weiner’s set, featuring Bonnie Durben’s eclectic collection of props, captures the cluttered disarray of an all-male domicile, including a repainting job left unfinished. Becky Pierce’s lighting varied appropriately, and Adam Lansky provided the needed sounds, although the city noises abruptly shifted from loud to total silence. A slight undertone would add realism. Kristianne Kurner’s costumes are fitting, most notable for the Catholic-schoolgirl outfit Stella dons every birthday as an ironic tribute to her forsaken faith.

The program notes that this is Johnson’s last show before he takes his multiple talents to New York. He’ll leave a major void in local theater, so while wishing him well, we can hope that he’ll occasionally come back for worthy projects.

Cast and credits