SMALL FIELD : 2 TROUPES TO TAKE STAGE IN CONTEST

The Laguna Moulton Playhouse and the Fontana Mummers will be the only troupes represented in the Southern California community theater competition to be held tonight at the 418-seat playhouse in Laguna Beach.

Organizers had initially hoped to present five troupes in the event, one of the district-level preliminaries in the ninth biennial festival, which is conducted nationwide by the American Assn. of Community Theatres.

But three of the originally scheduled Southern California troupes--the Palos Verdes Players, Santee Little Theatre and Whittier Community Theatre--have dropped out, making this year’s district competition the smallest yet. The previous district event, held in 1985 at United States International University in San Diego, drew five entries, including the Laguna Moulton Playhouse.

“We’re very disappointed, of course, in such a low turnout,” said Cal State Long Beach Prof. Robert Eggers, who is president of the Southern California Educational Theatre Assn., sponsor of the district competition.

“Specifically, budget problems and scenic logistics were the reasons for the dropping out of the other groups,” Eggers said. “But overall it seems part of a disturbing trend--the non-involvement in outside activities by too many of our (district) members.”

Douglas Rowe, Laguna Moulton’s artistic director, put it this way: “Southern California still just doesn’t compare with other regions when it comes to festival participation. In the Midwest, there are areas where the (district) event runs several days to accommodate as many as two dozen competing groups.”

At Saturday’s district competition, the Laguna Moulton Playhouse and the Fontana Mummers will each give a 60-minute performance. Beginning at 7:30 p.m., the Fontana troupe will appear in scenes from Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.” The director is Nanette Severy.

At 9 p.m., the Laguna Moulton will offer an abbreviated version of “Quilters,” the frontier musical by Barbara Damashek and Molly Newman. The director is Teri Ralston. Mark Turnbull is musical director.

The entire program, including the post-performance judging by a three-member panel, is open to the public. Tickets are $5. (For information, call the playhouse box office at (714) 494-0743.)

Saturday’s winning troupe will represent the Southern California district at the Region VIII competition April 27-28 at the Phoenix Little Theatre. (The region includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam.) The national finals will be held June 10-14 at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Since 1981, when the Laguna Moulton Playhouse first competed in the biennial festival, the playhouse has been among the most active--and successful--of California community theater groups in the prestigious event.

In each of the past three festival years, Laguna Moulton has won the district competition and gone on to the regional event. The troupe took top regional honors in 1981 (with “Match Play” by Mary Jane Roberts) and 1983 (with “Lou Gehrig Did Not Die of Cancer” by Jason Miller). The playhouse’s 1985 entry (“I Ought to Be in Pictures” by Neil Simon) placed second in the regionals.

Meantime, the Laguna Moulton Playhouse has announced that tickets are on sale for the April 18 and 19 benefit performances of Julie Harris in “The Belle of Amherst.” The one-woman play about poet Emily Dickinson will be presented both evenings at the playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road. Tickets range from $55 to $250. For information, call the Playhouse Foundation, (714) 497-5900.