Joe Lauderdale will take over as director...

Joe Lauderdale will take over as director of Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre on Oct. 1, replacing Scott Davidson, who is leaving to become artistic director of a new professional children’s theater in Los Angeles.

Lauderdale, 28, has been associate director of the Laguna Playhouse’s youth program since 1988. In that post, he heads the theater’s disabled actors program, teaches classes and directs plays. Lauderdale will now supervise the curriculum and administration of the youth theater program, which includes theater arts classes, an ensemble program and a four-play season. He is active in the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, which named the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre the outstanding new amateur children’s theater of 1989.

Davidson and Laguna Youth Theatre general manager Jody Davidson (Scott’s wife) are leaving their jobs to head the Serendipity Theatre Company, which is moving into the Coronet Theatre, a mid-size Equity house in West Hollywood.