BEST ON VALLEY STAGES GETS NIGHT IN SPOTLIGHT.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Theater Critic

Local weather forecaster Fritz Coleman got a warm reception, and actor John Rubinstein - who has performed in $10 million Broadway musicals - was honored for directing a low-budget version of Stephen Sondheim's ``Into the Woods'' at Monday night's fourth annual Artistic Director Achievement (ADA) Awards ceremony.

About 650 members of the Valley Theatre League packed the Alex Theatre in Glendale for the 2-1/2-hour event, a sort of regional version of the Tonys. The league, which consists of 39 theaters and production companies in the San Fernando and adjacent valleys, presented plaques in 43 categories to actors, designers, directors and producers.

Sprinkled throughout the Alex, each theater company seemed to have brought its own partisan cheering section. But the applause for awards recipients was long and generous from all quarters. A feeling of valley-based community prevailed.

Among the evening's big winners was the North Hollywood-based Road Theatre Company, which received five awards, including best original comedy, best director, set design and ensemble cast for an original play (the latter for its long-running production of ``An American Romance,'' Mark Lee's historical comedy concerns amorous and intellectual goings-on at the Brook Farm colony of the mid-1800s).

Coleman, the ceremony's emcee, won for best one-person play or musical for his autobiographical solo effort, ``It's Me, Dad'' at Actors Forum Theatre. Flashing samples of the stand-up wit he brings to his nightly weather forecasts on NBC (Channel 4), Coleman joshed about El Nino and the stock market and asked the audience to limit its applause so he could get back to the studio in time to do the 11 o'clock news.

The category of best original drama production resulted in a tie between ``Box 27'' (Actors Forum Theatre) and ``Cracks in a Sidewalk'' (American Renegade Theatre). Best musical production went to the Interact Theatre's ``Into the Woods,'' which also won for best lead actor in a musical (Matthew Ashford), best director of a musical (Rubinstein) and best musical direction (Rubinstein again).

In accepting one of his awards, Rubinstein praised league members for overcoming financial constraints to bring quality theater to the valleys. He contrasted the experience of producing ``Into the Woods'' with his current appearance as Tateh in the blockbuster musical ``Ragtime'' at the Shubert Theatre in Century City.

``It's a bit of a culture shock or a financial shock to go from the kind of theater we (valley theaters) all do to that kind of theater,'' said the veteran Broadway performer.

In other major categories, NoHo-based Synthaxis Theatre Company won for best revival of a drama for its production of Athol Fugard's ``My Life,'' and Theatre Unlimited won for best comedy revival for ``Move Over, Mrs. Markham.''

On a night when Hollywood was reliving the shame of the McCarthy era at a Westside gala, the league honored one of the Red scare's victims, actress Betty Garrett, with its lifetime achievement award. A former MGM musical star, Garrett was blacklisted after her husband, actor Larry Parks, confessed his past membership in the Communist Party to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Noting the tribute's ironic timing, Garrett expressed thanks to Theatre West, where she found stage work at a time when Hollywood barred it doors to her.

``I don't think I could've lived through those years without Theatre West,'' the 78-year-old actress said.

Garrett also shared the award for lead actress in a comedy for Theatre West's production of ``Tom-Tom on a Rooftop'' with Marsha Hunt (``On Golden Pond,'' Santa Susana Repertory Theatre Company).

In the evening's only other discernibly ``political'' moment, director Angela Wayne Randazzo put in a plug for animals while collecting her award for the children's show ``The Tiger Turned Pink'' at the Bitter Truth Theatre.

``Say `no' to fur,'' she urged the audience.

The most gratefully surprised winner was John Slade, who directed the one-man show ``Crockett, By Himself'' starring Lane Davies at Two Roads Theatre.

``I had a one-person cast!'' Slade exclaimed in disbelief. ``It must've been my blocking ...''

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Photo: The cast of ``An American Romance,'' including Ann Gillespie, Marci Hill and Taylor Gilbert, picked up one of five Artistic Director Achievement Awards awards given to the Road Theatre Company.