Our Story
The Laguna Playhouse was launched in a living room! That's right...on October 22, 1920, a group of dedicated local drama devotees got together and decided it was time to establish a community theatre in Laguna Beach. Initially there were play readings and performances in private homes and storefronts. The company’s first full production on record was Suppressed Desires, a satire on Freudian psychology by Susan Glaspel, a member—with Eugene O'Neill—of the famed Provincetown Playhouse in New York and Massachusetts.
The group’s first real home was The Playhouse, built in 1924 on Ocean Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach — at a cost of $5,000. During the Great Depression, the theatre was sold to the City and then leased back by the company. During World War II, the Playhouse offered entertainment for the troops and also hosted USO dances and other activities.
After the war, and through the 1950s and 1960s, The Laguna Playhouse continued to present a variety of productions, and even the first season of a then-fledgling troupe called South Coast Repertory Theatre. As the company’s ambitions grew, the need for a larger, better-equipped venue became increasingly apparent.
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| The beautiful Moulton Theatre was built in 1969. |
Finally, in 1969, the beautiful Moulton Theatre was built with private funds on City-owned land on Laguna Canyon Road. The old Playhouse was razed, but a historic marker still memorializes the site where the much-loved theatre once stood.
The Laguna Playhouse’s stature in the community rose in step with the rapid development of Orange County. Audiences grew as the company produced work of increasing quality.
In 1985, The Laguna Playhouse remodeled its Moulton Theatre, adding a balcony and office space. It was the first phase in what was hoped would lead to the creation of a second stage.
In 1987, the Playhouse won a national amateur theatre competition for its production of the musical Quilters, which went on to win second prize in that year's international competition in Ireland. Clearly, the company was ready to transform itself from a community theatre to a fully professional organization.
That transformation received a major boost in 1990 when Richard Stein ssumed leadership of The Laguna Playhouse as executive director. Andrew Barnicle joined the following year as artistic director and thus the stage was set for a period of rapid expansion.
The Playhouse formalized an agreement with Actors' Equity Association, then became a member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), a prestigious body of the nation's largest non-profit professional theatres. The Playhouse is also a constituent of the Theatre Communications Group, the national organization of American professional theatre.
Under Stein and Barnicle’s leadership, The Laguna Playhouse won both critical acclaim and larger audiences. Plans for a second stage, dormant for nearly a decade, were revived in 1994 with the acquisition of a building in South Laguna, on Pacific Coast Highway. The objective was to create a home for the burgeoning Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre and to provide a stage for a series of adventuresome and new works to complement offerings at the Moulton Theatre. The only drawback was the 7-mile distance between the two properties.
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| Playhouse Trustees James R. and Suzanne Mellor |
In 1998, the company identified a superior site located next door to the Moulton Theatre. The South Laguna property was sold and an agreement signed to acquire 580 Broadway, considered the ideal site for expansion since it is next door to the Moulton Theatre. Now, with a pledge in 2005 by local philanthropists Suzanne and James Mellor of $5 million towards the company’s long-awaited and much-need expansion, The Laguna Playhouse stands poised on the brink of a new era in its exciting evolution.
Today more than 110,000 theatergoers annually attend performances at The Laguna Playhouse. The company’s continued growth, artistic excellence, audience popularity and critical acclaim have helped make it one of Southern California's most important non-profit theatre companies.
Simultaneously, the company’s education and outreach programs have helped The Laguna Playhouse cement its position as a central player in the life of the whole community.
The Laguna Playhouse is widely noted for its Youth Theater and Education programs, now under the direction of Donna Inglima. In 1989, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education recognized The Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theater as “Outstanding Children’s Theatre”. The Youth Theater offers two fully-mounted productions annually on the Moulton Theatre stage, and has emerged as the region’s premier theatre for young audiences.
Since 1998, the theatre’s school tour, TheatreReach, also under the direction of Donna Inglima, has experienced tremendous growth. Theatereach now tours two productions each year to more than 150 schools, where they are seen by over 30,000 students.
From small beginnings in a Laguna Beach living room more than 85 years ago, The Laguna Playhouse has grown to become a vital component in the fabric of the community. It provides enriching high-quality entertainment for audiences of all ages, both local residents and visitors, and enhances the city’s luster as one of the country’s most appealing tourist destinations.
