THEATER : Reading Between the Lines

How nasty can Hollywood be?

Pretty nasty, according to David Knapp’s six-character comedy-drama “Staccato,” which is making its world premiere at the Tiffany Theatre. Knapp’s dark portrait of contemporary Tinseltown--the story of two Hollywood writers collaborating on a movie script--includes liberal doses of ambition, greed, alcoholism, mental breakdown, promiscuity, blackmail and revenge.

“I was attracted to the acerbity and mean-spiritedness of it, the toxicity of these people,” said Ron Link, director of the piece. “I think most people are mean, and pretend to be otherwise.”

Link, whose local stage credits include such hard-edged fare as “Women Behind Bars,” “Bouncers,” “Stand-Up Tragedy,” “Melody Jones” and “The Killing of Michael Malloy,” adds, “I’ve always been fascinated with characters who have no redeeming value, and people who are on a quest. Also, people who are obsessed. Those are the ones we remember.”

Knapp, whose Montecito Company is producing the play, won’t say how much of the script is based on personal experience, but allows that “bits and pieces” are autobiographical.

“I’ve been on the fringes of screenwriting for several years, written pilots--but I’m a late bloomer as a playwright,” he said. His first play was 1994’s well-received “The Bed Facing North” at the Court Theatre.

“Being in the business,” he adds, “it’s easier for me to write about; I know the technology. But I don’t think the play is terribly inside. I never want to be exclusionary, or make people think I’m hipper than I am,” Knapp said.

In fact, Knapp, 51, knows a lot about Hollywood--and his education started early. Raised in New York and Los Angeles, he was a member of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and estimates that he he appeared in “100 to 150 TV shows, plays, every media.” But the real introduction to show business came through his mother, who although not an actress was very much on the social A-list. Regular dinner guests at their home included George Sanders (once a boyfriend of his mother), Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Mary Pickford, Walter Pidgeon, Gary Cooper, David Niven, Cary Grant, Barbara Hutton, Claire Booth Luce, and Noel Coward.

“I remember once in the ‘50s, my mother was giving a party and I was upstairs watching television, and a lady walked up to me and said, ‘Hello, my name is Greta Garbo,’ ” he recalled. “She used to come up to our ranch. As I got older, I realized how big she was.”

In spite of his early proximity to Hollywood’s elite (Basil Rathbone was his godfather), Knapp said, “I’m still in awe of the great stars: Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, William Holden. Of course in conversation, you try not to get overwhelmed.”

Although he’s observed the goings-on in Hollywood over several decades, Knapp said he believes that isn’t too much new under the sun when it comes to human behavior.

“I think scheming and manipulation and devious behavior have been with us a long time,” he said, referring to the colorful characters in his play. “I just happen to be in the entertainment business. But I think it’s the nature of man to get things done his way--out of frustration, out of revenge.”

As for himself, Knapp (who was educated at Georgetown University and Columbia’s School of General Studies), appears far more easygoing.

“Both my plays have been a little bit of catharsis,” he said.

“But my main interest is in entertaining and amusing an audience. Any subject matter is better served if there’s some comedy in it. A sense of humor is what gets us through the day--and I love to hear an audience laugh. In this play, you have people who are interesting, who we want to watch. But that’s all. I’m not a ponderous individual, not terribly profound or into introspection. I’m a healthy, reasonably solvent white male. I’m not a philosopher, so I don’t have a philosophy.”

“Staccato” is staged 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at the Tiffany Theatre, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Closes March 19. Tickets: $22.50-$25. Tickets and information: (310) 289-2999.