LGDT Board of Directors & Staff

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.

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.

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.

SHARON REYNOLDS (Immediate Past 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.

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.

Frank has been attending LGDT productions since 1977 when he relocated to the area from downstate for a job opportunity in finance & industrial engineering. He and Linda have wonderful memories of the many great productions the dinner theater has done over the years, including the much-anticipated table visits that founders David & Vicki Eastwood would make during intermissions.

It was through Frank’s involvement in OKLAHOMA, the GLENS FALLS OPERETA CLUB (now GLENS FALLS COMMUNITY THEATER) musical production of 1977 as Curly in the dream sequence, that he and Linda met. Since then, including participation in a few more Operetta Club productions, he helped create BALLROOM RENNASIANCE, a group that organized dances in the ‘90’s. During that same period, he and Linda also helped with fund raisers and publicity for LAKE GEORGE OPERA (now OPERA SARATOGA).

In the more recent past he has served for many years on the boards of the CHARLES R. WOOD THEATER, SEAGLE FESTIVAL (formerly SEAGLE MUSIC COLONY) and the WORLD AWARENESS CHILDREN’S MUSEUM. Frank is also a hobbyist piano player, old movie and musicals fan, and sometimes football quarterback for his 10-year-old grandson.

He and Linda have lived in the same 1900 Victorian house in Glens Falls since 1980, and also own and manage three other rental properties in their neighborhood. Summers find them often at their Friends Lake log cottage acquired in 1933 by Linda’s grandparents.

He is looking forward to working as a LGDT board member in continuing its success and preserving its storied legacy!

Tom Murphy is new to the board as of 2025. He is a retired Bank Executive and, before that, a founding partner in local CPA firm, CMJLLP. Tom is actively involved in, and an avid supporter of, various local community organizations and nonprofits.

Sara Friedman is thrilled to return to the company as the Managing Director. Ms. Friedman brings with her years of experience in the professional performing arts and non-profit sectors and is no stranger to the Lake George Dinner Theatre (LGDT) family. She began her career as a professional stage manager where one of her first paid roles was as the Assistant Stage Manager for LGDT’s Jest a Second in 1996. Following her graduation from Union College in Schenectady, NY, Ms. Friedman went on to obtain her M.F.A. in Production Technology and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. After spending more than a decade in New York city working as both a professional stage manager and a communications manager for a large non-profit organization, Sara returned to her hometown of Glens Falls, NY. While back in the region, Sara continued to stage manage for the professional theatre companies in the area and took on Board positions with several community non-profits. In 2014, she took a full time position with Mills Entertainment based in Saratoga Springs. During her 10 years at Mills Entertainment, Sara spent several years on the road as a Tour Manager and, most recently, as the company’s General Manager for its touring productions. 

Most recently, Ms. Friedman returned to LGDT in a part-time capacity as the Director of Marketing and then as the Production Stage Manager for this past season’s production of Old Love. She is thrilled to be coming back “home” to help run the organization alongside current Artistic Director, Jarel Davidow. Sara is thrilled to be on the team full time and to start the next chapter of Lake George Dinner Theatre.

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.