The Waltzing of ‘Shmulnik’ : Playwright Allan Knee says he wrote the period comedy for himself to help rediscover his Jewish identity.

Allan Knee is perfectly pleased that audiences are interested in seeing his play “Shmulnik’s Waltz.” But the truth is, he wrote it for himself.

“I loved the idea of a young man willing to go around the world to find love,” said the New York-based playwright, whose period comedy begins previews Wednesday at Actors Alley. “It’s not an intellectual idea; it’s an emotional idea. I wanted to write a happy, up piece--and I wanted to go back to myself.” Specifically, Knee wanted to rediscover his Jewish identity.

“My older brother was bar-mitzvahed Orthodox,” he explained. “I was bar-mitzvahed Conservative. My youngest brother wasn’t even bar-mitzvahed. By the time I got to high school, we weren’t Jewish anymore--there was no observation of Jewish traditions. But I do remember when I was very young going to family functions--that sense of joy and spontaneity, lust for life. I connect those feelings with Jewishness and family.”

Knee’s turnaround began several years ago when he adapted Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” for PBS, and continued as he started reading historical accounts of New York at the turn of the century--the time during which “Shmulnik” is set.

“The city really came to life for me,” said the writer, a graduate of Yale School of Drama whose stage credits include “The Man Who Was Peter Pan,” “Second Avenue Rag” and “Santa Anita ’42.” “It made me want to feel proud of my heritage, not hide it. In some ways, I’d been in the closet. So I started reading Sholom Aleichem, Bernard Malamud, Henry Roth--trying to bring some of that to my life.”

A group of plays on the Jewish experience followed, and in 1989 Knee sat down to write this story. It charts the transcontinental pursuit by Shmulnik--starting in Russia, where he’s just returned from serving time in the Czar’s army--of the lovely Rachel that eventually leads him to New York. “The more rejected, the more persistent he becomes,” said the writer, “including serenading her building in the middle of the night.”

Knee says the story instantly clicked for him. “It was like the unconscious that’s been stored away, and it all came together. Still, I didn’t know what the future would be for it.” After finishing the script, he sent it to director Gordon Hunt, who promptly flew to New York, where a reading was done at the Jewish Repertory Theatre; it later opened their 1991 season.

Still, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. “I got a terrific letter from Playwrights Horizons,” Knee noted, “saying, ‘This has to be done, but our theater’s a little too hard-boiled.’ ” He offers no apologies for his optimistic tone: “The social message is implied--that there’s a good world out there. It’s President Bush’s gentler world actualized.”

David Shire (“Baby,” “Closer Than Ever”) wrote the play’s theme music, a score for concertina and violin. “A period piece is more difficult,” the composer offered. “I picked the concertina and violin to give an antique, ethnic flavor; a piano wouldn’t work in this case.” Shire, who has known Knee for several years, stresses that his involvement in the project is small: “Don’t be fooled by the billing. There’s not a lot of music.”

Although the audience at Jewish Rep generally fit a narrow profile, the makeup quickly expanded when the show moved to the John Houseman Theatre in early ’92. “I began to see that the play had more universal appeal,” Knee said happily.

In that sense, he allowed, “It’s hard to put my finger on what is so essentially Jewish about it--except that it is . But there are no accents; we just follow the rhythms of the language.”

“Shmulnik’s” ensuing success has included a positive review in the New York Times (“I’d been reviewed eight times by them before--and not one kind word!”) and preliminary discussions about a film version of “Shmulnik.”

“This was an exceptional year,” Knee admits. “Suddenly you wake up and things are working for you.” Perhaps not coincidentally, his new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” dwells heavily on the importance of family, and Knee proudly notes a recent change between him and his father: “We’re developing a strong, sweet, loving relationship.”

He has no intention of questioning his good fortune. “I don’t know where it comes from, where it’s going to. But I don’t want it to go away.”

WHERE AND WHEN

* What: “Shmulnik’s Waltz.”

* Location: Actors Alley, 12135 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood.

* Hours: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Closes Feb. 28.

* Price: $13-$18; $20 for opening night gala Jan. 8.

* Call: (818) 508-4200.