BY LUCIA MAURO
Now in its 30th year of advancing the communal-creative process, the Piven
Theatre Workshop continues to deepen its connection to, in the words of
Joyce Piven, “fostering the inner artist.” The co-founder and
artistic director of this respected Evanston-based theatre, training and
outreach center believes that cultivating the artist within ultimately
radiates out to a larger community. And as the director of Piven Theatre’s
current production of Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories (running
through July 6), Joyce has been thinking a lot about the word “mentor.”
In the play, an aging writer is betrayed by her young protégé
when her student publishes a private story not meant for public consumption.
But the mentor’s more pronounced disappointment arises from the protégé’s
inability to create a meaningful work of art. When Joyce notes that Collected
Stories “goes to the heart of what my life has been at Piven Workshop,”
she is clearly not referring to the betrayal element of the drama. Instead
she is drawn to a continuum of mentoring that has guided the institution
since she and her husband Byrne (who passed away in 2002) established
it in 1974 at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston.
“The play goes to the heart of what I’m trying so hard to preserve,”
says a contemplative Joyce. “This is my raison d’etre at this
point—as an educator. I believe the process brings out the individual
voice.”
She recalls first consciously applying the word mentor to Piven Theatre
Workshop a few years ago when a former student (Tria Smith, founder of
Redmoon’s Drama Girls) accepted an award and referred to the Pivens
as her “mentors.”
“I hadn’t thought about the concept of mentor,” notes Joyce.
“And the reason I hadn’t thought about it was because the idea
of mentoring was so interwoven into what we were doing from the beginning—the
basic aesthetic of the work, the community outreach, the idea of an ensemble,
Viola Spolin’s notion of giving and receiving.”
The Pivens spent many decades acting, directing and teaching in Chicago,
New York and Los Angeles. In 1967, with their two young children—Jeremy
and Shira—in tow, they settled in Chicago to help form the Second
City Repertory Company. Two years later, they moved to Evanston, where
Byrne began teaching at Northwestern University and Joyce organized theatre
classes at the Evanston Art Center. From two classes for children and
two for adults has grown a training and production center with 20 classes
and a comprehensive staff.
Piven Theatre Workshop began informally in 1972 but officially dates its
founding to 1974 when it was granted its not-for-profit status and relocated
to Evanston’s Noyes Cultural Arts Center (also home to Next Theatre
and the Actors Gymnasium). Story theatre is at the root of its ethos—a
method that Joyce describes as bridging the gap between improvisational
spontaneity and the presence of the script—a transformation from
narration of a literary work to characterization so that the actor becomes
a guide and “the story takes over.”
The combined training center/theatre (which includes the acclaimed Young
People’s Company) merges improvisational forms, its own adaptation
of the Stanislavsky system and story theatre techniques. Emphasis is on
truthful “being.” Theatre games—that grew out of the concept
of playground games and team sports—are at the core of Piven’s
programs, which view the actors as (according to the late Byrne Piven)
“a kind of emotive athlete [who] must behave in total awareness of
everyone and everything on stage.”
Its intimate theatre, says Joyce, “allows us to work close to the
bone.” Even the theatre experience is contained as if the actors
are telling stories in a living room.
In 1999, Piven inaugurated its three-play subscription series, which includes
one story theatre work and two offerings that highlight Piven artists
(writers, adapters, directors, actors). Based on the following statistics,
it appears that the company has reached its zenith. The Workshop annually
trains about 1,000 students, children and adults. Close to $50,000 in
scholarships are awarded to students annually, and outreach programs are
maintained in partnerships with Chicago’s Off the Street Club, the
Youth Organization Umbrella and the Department of Children and Family
Services.
But Joyce voices the Workshop’s ongoing frustrations with the City
of Evanston. “Our life at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center has always
been precarious,” she acknowledges. “We’re a low priority,
and have always been fighting for our life there. Most recently, they
raised our rent and wanted to eliminate our community ties.”
It’s difficult to comprehend how such a venerable institution must
continue to struggle for recognition and respect—especially considering
that its much-touted alums include Aidan Quinn, Lili Taylor and John and
Joan Cusack.
“You see,” responds Joyce, “we’re in a society that
is materially oriented. What we at the Workshop have to offer is not a
product. You can’t bottle it or sell it. It’s process. And,
to me, it’s the life force.”
Disappointed that the City of Evanston has not fully appreciated the community-driven
achievements of the Workshop, she is considering moving the company into
Chicago but has not set a specific date or location. Joyce also points
out that the theatre succumbed to a subscription season under pressure
to compete with other theatres. And, while she aims to maintain the Piven
ideals within its stage offerings, she cites an alarming trend in Chicago
theatre —one that goes against her belief in Chicago as the place
“where process can occur.”
“In LA, they struggle against the movies,” Piven says. “In
New York, they struggle against Broadway. But Chicago was recognized as
a fertile ground for artists —as a hot house. What’s happening
now—especially with theatres feeling the need to have subscription
seasons—is that we’re forced to meet Broadway standards without
the [financial] support.
“The arts are an endangered species, and process is the first to
go. I believe it’s the artistic process we’re trying to preserve
in a world interested in product.”
With the passing last year of the galvanic Byrne Piven—for whom Joyce
says “the whole world was his creative canvas”—his wife
admits to actively grieving while being inspired to move forward and continue
to teach and direct.
“I feel like I’m completing our relationship,” says Joyce
after a brief reflection. “I need Byrne, and he needs me. I was mentored
by Byrne. He had a large vision, and I was the counterweight. I also found
my own voice…he taught me the melody for every line, and I could
hear it. Now I have the melody in my head.”
Piven Theatre Workshop in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St.,
Evanston. Tel. 847-866-8049. www.piventheatre.org.