This is a story of love and belief and wonder and enthusiasm and joy and what can happen when you invest them all in a kid. Erica Heilmann ran a nationally renowned youth theater program in the southern suburbs of Chicago. I can call it nationally renowned because no less than the Tonys honored her in 2017 with the excellence in theatre education award. She taught theater at Thornton Fractional South High School, in addition to helping found the Broadway Junior Program at the Oak Lawn Park District, where she also acted, produced and directed. Reagan Pender was an energetic kid who didn’t mind…
