Joyce Piven, Co-Founder of the Piven Theatre, Dies at 94
Piven first taught and directed at the Piven Workshop and later served as its Artistic Director Emeritus.
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 21, 2025
BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Joyce Piven, co-founder the Piven Theatre and mother of Jeremy Piven, has died at age 94.
Joyce Piven was an American director, teacher, and actress. She and her late husband, Byrne Piven, were actors in the Compass Players. Later, they founded the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, Illinois and became teachers to a generation of stars such as John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Aidan Quinn, and Adam McKay, as well as their son Jeremy Piven and daughter Shira Piven.
Piven first taught and directed at the Piven Workshop and later served as its Artistic Director Emeritus.
About the Piven Theatre
For over forty years, Piven Theatre Workshop has helped thousands of students celebrate play while finding their unique creative voice through the study of improvisation, theatre games, scene study, and story theatre. Students at Piven discover the value of improvisational thinking, the training of impulse and instincts, the power of truth and honesty in performance, and the importance of effective communication skills.
These goals are achieved through the Piven Training Technique: a combination of improvisation exercises and theatre games designed to hone the actor’s skills. We like to compare the improvisation we use in an actor’s training to the weights & machines an athlete uses in their training. At Piven, actors are building muscles—creative muscles necessary to succeed once handed a script and put on a stage with other actors. The Piven Training Technique draws heavily on the work of Viola Spolin, the creator of the Theatre Games system as well as Byrne and Joyce Piven’s own work stemming from their collaboration with Paul Sills and the creation of Second City.
The Piven Training Technique also focuses heavily on the value of the ensemble, and the value of artistic collaboration. Learning the value of self-expression while still maintaining a responsibility to the group, each artist develops an understanding of themselves as a unique and valuable part of the greater whole. We have found that this combination of self expression and group responsibility leads to actors who are not only unique human beings, but are also flexible, adventurous, and gracious members of a team.
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