LAGUNA MOULTON TROUPE WINS AGAIN

The Laguna Moulton Playhouse acting troupe has placed first in the regional competition of the 1987 national festival of community theaters--the third time in four years the Laguna Beach group has won that regional honor.

The playhouse’s version of “Quilters,” a frontier musical, was given the Most Outstanding Production award at the Region VIII competition, which is part of the biennial American Assn. of Community Theatre Festival, competition officials said Monday.

The Laguna Moulton players won out over groups from Phoenix and Reno in the regional finals Saturday in Phoenix, according to David Hay, associate director of San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, who was one of the judges.

“We’re very excited, especially because no other group has won this often in our regionals,” said Douglas Rowe, Laguna Moulton’s artistic director. Laguna Moulton and nine other regional winners will vie for national honors June 10-14 at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

The Laguna Moulton entry was an abbreviated 60-minute version of “Quilters.” The work, written by Barbara Damashek and Molly Newman and directed by Teri Ralston, had been presented in a 3 1/2-week run this year at the playhouse.

Cast members were Karen McBride, Karen Angela, Lisa Picotte, Tricia Griffin, Colleen Dunn, Laura Pryzgoda and Carolyn Miller. Mark Turnbull served as music director.

Other troupes in the 1987 regionals were the Northwest Studio for Performing Arts of Phoenix (performing Robert Anderson’s “The Shock of Recognition”) and the Reno Little Theatre (in Lee Blessing’s “Nice People Dancing to Good Country Music”), Hay said.

Laguna Moulton has won all four Southern California district competitions since 1981, when the playhouse first entered the national festival. The playhouse’s two previous regional winners were Mary Jane Roberts’ “Match Play” (1981) and Jason Miller’s “Lou Gehrig Did Not Die of Cancer” (1983).