Oak Lawn Park District Renames Theater After Erica Heilmann

OAK LAWN, IL — Erica Heilmann spent hundreds of hours producing and directing young performers in the Oak Lawn Park District’s Broadway Junior program or rehearsing for leading roles in the community theater’s adult productions. So it was only appropriate that the performance space at the Oak View Center, which Heilmann often referred to as her “second home,” was dedicated in her memory before the teen production of “Chicago.”

Heilmann died at age 43 in 2018 after an eight-year battle with cancer. After her dianosis, it was important to her that she kept going, scheduling surgeries and treatments around Broadway Junior shows, her job at Thornton Fractional South High School, and raising four children. She was a devoted member of Chicago theater community, a gifted actor, and an inspiring mentor and educator. Erica and her husband, former Oak Lawn Mayor Dave Heilmann, were instrumental in starting the Oak Lawn Community Theatre program.

Despite her 2010 cancer diagnosis, she remained passionate about the positive impacts of the performing arts, especially on teens and children. In 2017, Heilmann was recognized by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University, for excellence in theater education award. Heilmann was one of 20 teachers in the United States to be recognized, and the only Illinois teacher to receive the distinction.

The theater space inside the Oak View Center, 4625 W. 110th St., Oak Lawn, was officially renamed the Erica Heilmann Theatre during a dedication ceremony on Feb. 8. Helping to cut the inaugural ribbon were Heilmann’s husband, her children, Natalie, Joseph, Michael and Brooke, and her mother Leona Altman.