New Director Wants ‘My Own Stamp’ on Youth Theatre : Stage: Joe Lauderdale sees no ‘major changes’ for Laguna children’s program, but he hopes to add to the troupe’s fame.

Joe Lauderdale, who is replacing Scott Davidson as the director of the Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theatre, is looking forward to making his own mark with the company.

Lauderdale, 28, who has been associate director of the Youth Theatre for the last two years, said one reason he came to the company was the quality of the productions.

He hopes to continue that quality, which led in 1989 to the troupe being named best new children’s theater company in the nation. “Of course, different people have different ideas,” he said. “I don’t foresee any major changes, but I plan to put my stamp on the company.”

The 1990-91 Youth Theatre season will open Oct. 5 with a new adaptation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Katherine Schultz Miller. It will have “an ominous feeling,” Lauderdale said, “an eerie kind of stark staging” and will remain true to the story.

“Aladdin,” a “colorful, sophisticated adaptation by Brian Kral” opening Feb. 22, will be “all-encompassing, participation theater.”

The playhouse is in the process of obtaining rights for the remaining productions. Lauderdale hopes to present “Prodigy,” a play by Mary Hall Surface about young Mozart and about “gifted children and their relationships with their parents.” It would fill the April 12-21 slot.

The last show of the season, and the only musical, would be “Bugsy Malone,” tentatively scheduled to open June 14.

Lauderdale, who received a master of fine arts degree in children’s theater from Arizona State University, has headed the Playhouse’s program for disabled actors, in addition to teaching and directing in the youth program.

His “immediate challenge,” he said, “is running the youth program by myself. I’ve learned a lot from Scott--we worked well together. I plan to continue the growth of the Youth Theatre and make it even more well known than it is now.”

Scott Davidson, and his wife, Jody Davidson, who had been the Playhouse’s general manager, are leaving to open their own children’s theater company at the Coronet Theatre in West Hollywood. Although they had little comment on the break, Davidson did refer to his frustration over youth theater productions taking a back seat to main-stage productions because of a space shortage.

Richard Stein, executive director at Laguna, said of the Davidsons: “We certainly wish them well and appreciate the work they have done here over the years.”

He said plans for a second facility for the youth theater had fallen through, but “we are involved in sensitive negotiations” for another site.

“If everything materializes as planned, it will better suit the overall needs of the institution, as well as the specific needs we had hoped to address in the Youth Theatre program,” he said.

Stein said the playhouse is solidly behind continuing the youth program. “It’s one of the greatest things going here and one that attracted me to come here as executive director in March,” he said. “We’re very proud of what they’re doing artistically and pleased with the educational approach, which has elevated the program significantly over what it had been in the past.”

However, Stein said, “in a transition like this, it is appropriate to take a look at the program and re-evaluate it, get feedback from the participants, parents, board members and the staff and do some fine tuning.”

Stein said he, Laguna Playhouse artistic director Doug Rowe and the troupe’s board members all believe that, under Lauderdale, “the youth program will equal or surpass its previous quality and success.”

“Lauderdale,” he said, “clearly has the knowledge and the vision to take the program forward.”