Shepard to Shakespeare in Laguna : Theater: The community’s Playhouse troupe will perform five plays in its 1992-93 season, including ‘True West’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’

The Laguna Playhouse will take on both Sam Shepard and William Shakespeare next season in an attempt to broaden its definition of middle-of-the-road theater and to match what it sees as the growing adventurousness of its audience.

The Playhouse’s 1992-93 subscription season at the Moulton Theatre will include “True West,” Shepard’s violent comic drama written in 1981 about a pair of rival brothers, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare’s lushly poetic comedy about the confusions of romantic love.

It will be the first time a play by Shepard has been produced by the Playhouse, which is now in its 72nd year of continuous operation as an amateur community company. It is more than a quarter-century since the Playhouse has mounted a production of Shakespeare.

The five-play season will open with William Inge’s “Bus Stop,” the American classic from 1954 about a tough “chantoosie” nightclub singer who meets a randy cowboy on a cross-country bus trip.

Rounding out the season will be Walton Jones’s “The 1940s Radio Hour,” a nostalgic re-enactment of a musical variety program from the Hotel Astor in 1942, and Alan Ayckbourn’s “Bedroom Farce,” a 1975 British satire of suburban marital life.

In past years, the Playhouse has offered six plays, five on subscription and one at Christmastime. This season, in an effort to save money and free up time, a holiday production will not be given.

Playhouse plans to stage an outdoor season this summer at the Muckenthaler Center in Fullerton have been canceled. “We’ve been told it is unlikely the facilities will be ready this summer,” said Playhouse executive director Richard F. Stein.

‘The Shepard play is a departure for us and adds spice to the mixture,” Stein said. “True West” propelled John Malkovich to stardom after his portrayal of a crotch-scratching, nose-picking drifter jealous of his screenwriter brother.

“We’re very much a middle-of-the-road theater and we have been historically,” Stein said. “But I believe we have ample evidence from our subscribers that they’re interested in newer as well as classical works.”

Artistic director Andrew Barnicle, who played in an Off-Broadway revival of “True West” during the early ‘80s (filling in for Randy Quaid), said he had no plans to act in the Playhouse version.

In announcing the season, both he and Stein said the recent box-office success of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People”--the highest-grossing non-musical production in three years at the Moulton--convinced them of the audience’s eagerness to be provoked.

“The success of ‘Enemy’ tells me there’s a potential out there for issue plays and classics and, in the case of Ibsen, a combination of both,” said Barnicle, who will direct “Bus Stop” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He said he also was encouraged by this season’s innovation of post-play audience discussions at designated performances.

“Sometimes they went into the wee hours of the morning,” Barnicle said. “I’ve learned things I couldn’t have by just listening to applause--and one of them is not to underestimate this audience.”

Stein said he anticipates a Playhouse budget for the season of about $1 million, the same as this season’s, despite the cutback of one production. He said the decision to produce five plays overall instead of six not only will contain costs but will free up crowded scheduling time at the Moulton and will relieve the Playhouse’s Youth Theatre of the burden of staging one of its productions elsewhere.

Stein said the rate of subscription renewals for next season is running 42% ahead of last year at this time, and the number of small donations to the theater coming in with the renewals is running 52% ahead of last year. The Playhouse has 8,502 subscribers this season, Stein said.

Subscription prices for the 1992-93 season will range from $50 to $90, the same as this year. The price of single tickets will also remain the same, from $11 to $22.

THE SEASON

Laguna Playhouse 1992-93:

Sept. 15 to Oct. 11: “Bus Stop” by William Inge.

Nov. 17 to Dec. 13: “The 1940s Radio Hour” by Walton Jones.

Jan. 12, 1993, to Feb. 7: “True West” by Sam Shepard.

March 9, 1993, to April 4: “Bedroom Farce” by Alan Ayckbourn.

May 11, 1993, to June 6: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare.

All plays will be presented at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Information: (714) 494-8021.