New Children’s Program : Laguna Youth Theater Cited as Best in U.S.

The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater has been named the country’s best new children’s program by a national organization of educators and theater professionals.

The American Alliance for Theater and Education is expected to announce this morning at its annual convention in New York that the Youth Theater is the winner of the Outstanding New Children’s Theater Company Award.

The prestigious award is bestowed by the 700-member organization on theatrical programs between 2 and 5 years old. The Youth Theater recently concluded its third season at the Moulton Theatre in Laguna Beach.

Scott Davidson, artistic director of the children’s troupe, said from New York through a Laguna Playhouse spokesman that he was “thrilled by this kind of national recognition.” He said it affirmed his belief that “children are entitled to the best of all the arts.”

Brian Krall, whose work has been performed by the Youth Theater, is also to be named the winner of the alliance’s Charlotte Chorpenning Playwright Award, Laguna spokesman Brian Murphy added. The award goes to a nationally known writer of outstanding plays for children.

Krall’s “Special Class,” a drama about handicapped children, was staged at the Moulton two seasons ago. Another of his works, “Draw Fire,” will be offered during the Youth Theater’s 1989-90 season.

The subscription audience for the children’s troupe has increased nearly fivefold since it began operating in 1986, Murphy said. There were 240 season ticket holders that year and more than 1,100 this year. The program has also doubled its theater-arts class enrollment during each successive season. There were 160 students this year.

The task of “preparing audiences of the future can often be unsung,” Douglas Rowe, artistic director of the Laguna Playhouse, said in a prepared statement. “We hope this award will further serve to bring into focus the importance of the work being done by Scott, his staff and our diligent company of players and volunteers.”

The playhouse is currently raising money for the purchase of the General Telephone building in downtown Laguna Beach to expand operations beyond the Moulton Theatre, both for classrooms and performance space for the children’s troupe as well as for a professional company.

The Youth Theater produced five plays during its 1988-89 season at the Moulton, including “The Nightingale,” “Barnum” and “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.”

Next season it will also offer five plays, beginning with “Alice in Wonderland,” to be staged as an environmental theater work at Anneliese’s Willowbrook School (Sept. 30-Oct. 22).

That will be followed at the Moulton by “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (Dec. 15 to 23); “The Code Breaker” (Feb. 3 to 11); “Draw Fire” (March 31 to April 8) and “The Bluebird” (June 8 to 17).