Stage 212 mourns the passing of Glen Gerrard, longtime actor, set designer

He was a commanding presence on the stage. Backstage, he could assemble stage props with tape and spit – indeed, he sometimes had to – and his many peers marveled at his boundless imagination and creativity.

Glen Gerrard, 75, of Oglesby died early Tuesday after a short illness. Gerrard was a fixture at regional theater companies including River Valley Players in Henry and Stage 212 in La Salle. He also was a visual artist who gave generously to Illinois Valley Community College, where he cut his teeth.

“Glen was a rare theater talent in that he was as great both on stage and off,” said Joe Ennenbach, a longtime actor, director and producer for Stage 212. “He had the lead roles in major musicals, including ‘Man of La Mancha,’ ‘The Sound of Music’ and the two-person “I Do! I Do!,’ the last of which he performed not only in local community theater but also with a professional touring company.”

“Glen was a rare theater talent in that he was as great both on stage and off.”

—  Joe Ennenbach, longtime actor, director and producer for Stage 212

Alex Dittmer, who performed with Stage 212 before embarking on professional stints in New York and Nashville, Tennessee, said Gerrard welcomed him onto the local stage during “Man of La Mancha,” and he “made me feel like I had been part of this group forever.”

“His talents were immense,” Dittmer said. “He was so very passionate about theater, sometimes to a fault. His presence will be missed.”

An artist, actor and set designer, Gerrard appeared in and worked behind the scenes for IVCC theater productions in the late 1960s. Long before there was a theater, he learned set design through on-the-job training and building scale models.

Gerrard came from a humble background. His parents, Charles and Cora Gerrard, were forced to quit school early to support their respective families. Gerrard later would establish a fine arts scholarship in their memory and credited his parents for stoking his imagination.

“Our parents were very creative,” he said when establishing the scholarship in 2023. “They encouraged all of us to learn all we can and to never stop learning.”

After a stint in the army, he returned to the Illinois Valley and obtained an art degree from Illinois State University in 1974. His paintings and pastel drawings have won multiple awards.

He was as adept on the stage as he was before an easel and gravitated to the professional stage. He played Ebenezer Scrooge in a touring production of “A Christmas Carol” that crossed six states.

In his later years, he settled into his niche as a set designer. When Stage 212 brought the hit comedy “The Producers” to La Salle, Gerrard fashioned eye-popping headdresses including a beer stein and a pretzel.

“Glen was a creative genius,” said Natalie Smigel, business manager for Stage 212. “His sets were masterpieces. The set he built for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has to be the crowning jewel of his long career. It was magnificent and truly was a star of that show.

“However, his best legacy gift to Stage 212 was his work in digitally preserving our archives, which will outlive us all.”

Stage 212 production manager Reid Tomasson said set design and building are an area that most artists in the local community shy away from.

“The taxing work and creativity that go into it can be intimidating – but not for Glen,” Tomasson said. “He put everything he had into his designs, and it showed on stage. I will always remember his creative drive, and the support and admiration he showed for the next generation of artists in our community.”

Peers heaped honors upon him – he was given the Omni Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 – but gave generously back to his community. Smigel said Gerrard was active at the Westclox museum and “had a dream to create a museum in Oglesby.”

He spent a decade as a foster parent and launched the “Oglesby Days” page on Facebook, giving city residents a forum for sharing old photos and memories. The page was a massive hit, drawing more than 500 members in a single day.

But it was onstage where Gerrard worked his greatest magic.

“I’ve worked with Glen on many a theater project since the early 2000s,” said Ellen Marincic, a longtime director. “His eye for detail always amazed me. I asked him to design my set when I directed ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ in 2018. We needed a weeping willow tree that you’d swear was real. The shingles on the roofs, the stone house foundations, the flower beds between houses – every aspect was perfect. I was so happy that on multiple performances, when the curtain opened and the audience first saw the set, they applauded.

“He was so very talented and will be sorely missed.”

Arrangements are pending with Shields Funeral Chapel in Oglesby.