LGDT Board of Directors & Staff

SHARON REYNOLDS (President) is proud to have been associated with The Lake Theatre for over 44 years and can think of no better way to spend her ‘semi-retired’ years than being involved in live theater. The thrill of hearing an audience laugh and show appreciation for the performance is the best medicine! Although she planned a career as a registered nurse, life brought her back to her hometown of Glens Falls. As a youth, she had attended many productions of The Glens Falls Operetta Club and always thought how wonderful it would be to either perform in the pit orchestra or onstage. In 1974 a friend brought her to an audition for their fall musical and she landed a part in the singing and dancing chorus. She was hooked and from that moment on she has been an active member and volunteer in the Glens Falls Community Theatre, discovering that she not only loved performing, but also ‘playing’ backstage in every aspect of the theater including administration. In 1976, the founder of The Lake George Dinner Theatre, David Eastwood was cast in “1776”. Sharon was doing makeup for that show and renewed her friendship with David (both had attended Glens Falls Senior High School). The following year David asked her to join the Lake George Dinner Theatre staff to handle publicity and program sales. This began her long association with the Eastwood family, The Holiday Inn and the Lake George Dinner Theatre/Lake Theatre Productions. It has been exciting and challenging to be a part of the history of the theater and Sharon is honored to be able to continue the legacy. She looks forward to helping guide the theatre to fulfill its mission to entertain audiences and inspire and educate young theatrical talent.

Chandler has been on The Lake Theatre Board since 2018. He became acquainted with the Glens Falls Community Theatre when moving to Glens Falls from Boston 1979 after promoting and leading the discotheque industry on the East Coast and helping to launch the careers of Donna Summer, John Travolta, Carol Doughlas, Melba Moore and others. He performed in several musicals for GFCC and held lead roles in “Count Dracula,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “Same Time Next Year” and “DeathTrap.” Chandler is currently a professor of business for SUNY Adirondack and owner of The Elms Waterfront Cottages and River Ridin’ water sports in Lake Luzerne. He formerly served as Chairman of the Board for the Lake Luzerne Music Center. Chandler earned his doctorate with a dissertation in “peak performance and the professional actor” at USIU in San Diego, where he studied the emotional paths to highest happiness within an actor. He interviewed actors who had earned Oscars and Emmys such as Nina Foch, Ben Johnson, Penny Fuller, Alex Cord, Patricia Huston, Leigh Lombardi, Jock O’Mahoney, Stephanie Beacham, Peter Brown, Dub Taylor, Nancy Cartwright and Ann Lockhart among others to achieve his results.

Dinner Theatre is always a relaxing and magical way to enjoy an evening of entertainment with family and friends after a great meal and with your favorite beverage of choice. I love being able to help deliver this kind of joyfulness and memory for the young to discover and the seasoned to savor.

Colleen is excited to join the Lake George Dinner Theatre Board and looks forward to being part of the great tradition and success of the company. She is a native of Rochester and a graduate of SUNY Geneseo where she majored in Theatre, English and Secondary Education. Colleen caught the theatre bug in high school and has been active ever since then having directed, stage managed, acted, designed and taught children’s theatre classes for a number of years before moving to the Adirondacks. Since relocating to the region over fifteen years ago, Colleen has been involved with Our Town Theatre Group, a community theatre group based out of North Creek, where she has directed main stage productions and staged readings, stage managed a number of productions, was production manager for a number of events and served as a board member and Vice President for Production. In addition to her work with Our Town Theatre Group, Colleen has stage managed for local dance recitals and children’s musical theater productions as well as served as the costume designer for three recent productions at SUNY Adirondack.

Colleen works as a Trust and Wealth Services Senior Specialist at Glens Falls National Bank and in her free time, when not in the theatre, she enjoys gardening, cooking, baking, traveling and adventuring with her amazing husband and son. The Lake George Dinner Theatre is the perfect combination of all these favorite things and Colleen is happy to be part of this amazing group!

Johnna Maiorella is currently serving as Secretary of the LGDT Board of Directors, and previously served as Vice-President. During her time on the board, she has co-developed our 10-Minute Playwriting contest, written and procured grants, and developed our Education Program and partnerships. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from SUNY Albany and an M.A. in Theatre Education from Emerson College, and is a NYS Certified Teacher in English 7-12 and Theatre K-12. Johnna has been teaching theatre courses at SUNY Adirondack and Empire State college for over 19 years, producing and directing various shows there including; “Radium Girls” by D.W. Gregory and “Brighton Beach Memoirs” by Neil Simon. She has served local schools as director of the SUNY Adirondack Touring Theatre for Children and a director of summer enrichment courses in theatre to youth grades 3-9. Johnna also developed and directed CAST (Creative Arts Spectrum Theatre,) a program for students on the autism spectrum. When not working on a theater project she enjoys kayaking, travel, and spending her time with her husband and three amazing children; Ben, Elijah, and Emma, who make her life complete.

Rachel has been associated with the Lake George Dinner Theatre for the past 14 years as the company’s Lighting Designer. She began this wonderful collaboration with Old Love and will continue with this season’s Shear Madness and Marriage is Murder. She hopes to keep the collaboration going for a very long time! Past designs for LGDT include Buyer and Seller, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Lunch with Mrs. Baskin, Jerry Finnegan’s Sister, The Long Weekend, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Great Kooshog Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby, Almost Maine, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, Lake Effect, Moonlight and Magnolias,, My Son’s Wedding, Skin Deep and The Love List.

She joined the LGDT Board of Directors in 2022. After teaching at Ramapo College of NJ in the Theater Program she will be retiring in June of 2023, moving to the Adirondacks, and is looking forward to increasing her work on the Board and contributing to the ongoing health of the company!

She brings a perspective of many years of experience working in dozens of national Regional Theatres and international venues (Capital Rep in Albany, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, The Goodman Theatre to name just a few) to LGDT and Lake Theatre Productions as we continue the excellent work of LGDT and move into an expanded role in the theatre community in the Adirondacks.

Bruce is a retired school administrator, and lives in Queensbury, NY. He has been a board member for The Charles R. Wood Theater and Glens Falls Community Theater, and is currently on the board of Catholic Charities of Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties. He has been Production Manager for over 20 shows for GFCT and has worked backstage in most capacities. Directors have ensured that his onstage appearances been limited to non-speaking roles such as ghosts, hooded characters and bartenders.

Erin Coon is excited to join the Lake Theatre board! Erin grew up locally and as a kid, spent much of her time on stage with local groups including SUNY Adirondack, Youtheatre, Glens Falls Community Theatre and Adirondack Children's Troupe. Her family owned a business in Lake George Village and attended Lake George Dinner Theatre productions every year. She has as a Masters Degree in Arts Administration and PhD in Nonprofit Management and has worked in the local nonprofit sector for almost 15 years including several years as Executive Director of the Charles R. Wood Theater. Currently Erin is the Finance & Fund Development Coordinator for WAIT House, a local homeless youth shelter in Glens Falls. She also owns Fun World Arcade in Lake George. Erin has a 5 year old son who asks all the best questions and, in her free time, she still occasionally directs or performs in local theater or concert productions.

Sue's professional background is in education as an HFHS English teacher and a SUNY Adk. writing instructor. Her favorite avocation has always been theater where she's been lucky to perform with various area groups, but has mainly been involved, on and off stage, with Glens Falls Community Theatre for many years. High school and college classrooms have a lot in common with theater stages because the best results come from being committed to your signature role, flexible enough to handle the unexpected, happy with what you are trying to accomplish, and thrilled when the audience is engaged! The behind the scenes parts of each are also vital where the preparation and production work takes lots of time and energy. Family also factors in, of course, and being married to a "sports" guy, plus having 3 married professional daughters and 5 grandkids who all live & attend school or college out of state can be challenging. It's an honor to now be included in the Lake George Theatre family!

Steve was welcomed to the dinner theater as Technical Director in 2014 and in recent years has joined the board. A Saratoga native, he is also the Technical Director for The Local Actors Guild of Saratoga. He has been a part of production crews lending a hand to technical aspects of many local community theater productions at Home Made Theater, The Egg, Charles Wood, The Glove, Park Playhouse, Siena College, Sage College, and Schenectady Civic Theater. By day, Steve manages IT and communications for The Charlton School and spends much of the summer tackling the Adirondack 46 High Peaks.

In addition to her role at LGDT, Sylvia is the Director of Education at Temple Sinai (Saratoga Springs) and the director of Eenie Meenie Music, offering Music Together classes in Saratoga for families with young children. She has a BM from Oberlin Conservatory and an MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She’s performed as swing in "Phantom of the Opera" (Christine Company), was a chorister in the San Francisco Opera, and a soprano soloist with the Erie Philharmonic (PA) and Springfield Symphony (MO). Here in upstate NY, she's played Rhona in "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", and Helena in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" at the Hubbard Hall Theater.

Jarel has been Artistic Director of LGDT since 2018. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in White Plains where he began his theatrical career as the lead tooth in his third grade production of “Revenge of the Foolish Molar”. From there he went on to graduate from Rider College with a B.A. in Broadcasting and then on to earn his MFA in Acting from The Actors Studio at The New School (first graduating class). His professional acting career began at Universal Studios FL playing the role of Louis Tully in The Ghostbusters Show. After moving back to NYC, he appeared in many Off-Broadway as well as regional productions and did numerous radio, TV and video game voice overs. He has also toured with New England Shakespeare Festival, did a national tour with The Shoestring Players, a children’s theater company and performed twice at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2012, He was cast by Terry Rabine in “The Love List”, his first show at LGDT. He went on to perform in three more productions and, in 2016, directed his first show at the Dinner Theatre, “Almost, Maine”. Two years later, Jarel decided to make the North Country his new home when he enthusiastically accepted the position of Artistic Director. In the off season, Jarel has acted and directed for other companies in the area and is also an adjunct theater professor at SUNY ADK.

Amber lives in upstate New York with her husband and husky, Kaida Mai. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Biology from the University of New England and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University. She works part time at Newmeadow Preschool, which specializes in serving children with autism and other developmental disabilities, and with Lake Theatre Productions as their Managing Director. When not working with Newmeadow or LTP, she also works with a literary agent, focusing in foreign permissions and small projects, as well publishing her novels as an indie author (10 and counting). When not working, Amber enjoys reading, writing, crafting, traveling, and spending time with her family and friends.