Theatre History

1968 
David Eastwood, a Glens Falls businessman and theatre lover, and his wife, Vicky produce BAREFOOT IN THE PARK in Glens Falls. It marks the premiere season of what is to become The Lake George Dinner Theatre.



1969
 From 1969 to 1975 Eastwood produces summer stock at the Towers Hall Playhouse in Lake George. The 10-week season includes comedies, dramas and musicals, all performed in an old carriage house that the Eastwoods renovate into a playhouse. A highlight of this phase of the operation is Eastwood’s production of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE which features a return to the stage by Esther Ralston, a silent film star of the 1920’s. 



1970 
Terry Rabine, fresh out of high school, joins the Towers Hall Theatre for its production of THE FANTASTICKS, the first of many productions in which he will appear onstage over the next 35 years.



1976 
The Eastwood’s summer theatre company is invited by the Holiday Inn-Turf of Lake George to present “dinner theatre” on the premises. This begins an association with the Holiday Inn which continues today.



1978
 The theatre joins Actors Equity Association, becoming the most intimate professional dinner theatre under an Equity contract in the country, a distinction it continues to hold today. Audiences delight in the intimacy of the unique theatre where no seat is more than 35 feet from the stage.

It is during this season that Eastwood and director/actor Bruce Jordan first present SHEAR MADNESS. A delightful audience participation murder mystery, the show is a huge hit and is subsequently purchased by Eastwood, Jordan and Marilyn Abrams. SHEAR MADNESS later moves to the Charles Playhouse in Boston where it is initially booked for a 30-day limited engagement and where, 3 decades later, it continues to sell out. SHEAR MADNESS now has the distinction of being the longest running non-musical play in American stage history and has been performed all over the world.