Celebrate the memory of Colleen Tovar with a gift to her scholarship!
Thank you for coming to this page and giving to the Colleen Tovar Memorial State Management Scholarship. Every penny will go toward Colleen’s passions: Stage Management and her students. For those of you who knew her, the obituary below only does so much justice in knowing and understanding who she was. It is our hope that this scholarship will help her legacy live on in the stage managers of the future.
Obituary
Colleen Helen Tovar, 51, of Bloomington, Illinois passed away November 7, 2022. She was born August 7, 1971 in Warren, Michigan, to Maureen H. Phillips and Thomas P. Kenny. She married the love of her life, John Tovar on September 15, 2000, in Streamwood, Illinois.
Colleen is survived by her loving husband of 22 years, John; fur baby Basher; siblings Susan Hamill, Thomas Kenny and Kathryn Kenny. She is preceded in passing by her mother, Maureen Phillips; father, Thomas Kenny; father-in-law, Ralph Tovar; and mother-in-law, Marlene Tovar.
Colleen was the Production Manager of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival and the School of Theatre and Dance at Illinois State University, where she taught and mentored the stage management students. Previously, Colleen was the Production Manager and Stage Management Instructor at Ball State University, the Managing Director for Fox Valley Repertory Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, and was a freelance Equity Stage Manager for many theatre productions throughout the Chicagoland area.
She loved to cook, read, and listen to music. She was a huge fan of the Great British Baking Show, historical documentaries, and Marvel movies. While she preferred Star Trek over Star Wars, she would put the latter on the television for John… whenever she was napping.
Colleen was a fiercely loyal friend, dedicated teacher and mentor, and a stalwart leader. One of Colleen’s greatest pleasures was mentoring stage management students. She was so proud of her “kids” and was always ecstatic to hear how their careers and lives continued to grow after they graduated.
How to describe Colleen...
- Steadfast, forward, and gloriously still – her energy sat
like a flat glassy lake on a windless day – beautiful, deep, unmoving and
reflective of the world around her.
- She was the most resilient, beautiful, and quick-witted
woman we've had the pleasure of knowing.
- Through every rehearsal, every tech, every chaotic meeting
and interaction, Colleen was always the one modeling stability, grace under
pressure, vision, humanity, and a keen awareness of where we were, what needed
to happen next, and where we were heading.
- She lived her life so incredibly beautifully and
meaningfully and will leave a truly remarkable legacy behind. She was a guiding
light to so many people.
- "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is fired" are some of the first words students heard from Colleen – every step in her program was a learning opportunity.
- There was nothing like a Colleen hug. She would wrap her arms around you and not let you go until you felt better.
- She was the ultimate mama-bear. Through her love, you felt like you could do anything. Her belief in you as a friend and a person was so strong that when Colleen Tovar believed in you, you knew that you were going to crush it!
Thank you for giving to the Colleen Tovar Memorial Scholarship for State Management students.
To continue giving to this scholarship, please visit Giving.IllinoisState.edu.