Byrne Piven (September 24, 1929 â€" February 18, 2002) was an American
stage actor, director, and co-founder of the Playwrights Theatre Club,
a forerunner of The Second City.Piven was born Bernard Piven in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Katie (née Balaban) and Samuel
Piven, who were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He came to Chicago in
1954 and met Joyce Hiller at the University of Chicago. They were
married a short time later. In the 1950s, the Pivens were two of the
founding members of the Playwrights Theatre Club, along with Paul
Sills and David Shepard. Playwrights featured such budding stars as
Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Ed Asner and Barbara Harris.In the
mid-1950s, the Pivens moved to New York, where they studied with Uta
Hagen. Piven played the leads in several New York Shakespeare Festival
productions. He was also part of the Obie Award-winning cast of A
House Remembered.They returned to Chicago in 1967 to rejoin Sills,
Sheldon Patinkin, Bernie Sahlins and Joyce Sloane in forming Second
City Repertory and then Story Theatre. Piven, charismatic, balding and
bearded, with a beautifully resonant voice, spent some time as an
acting teacher at Northwestern University, offering his expertise in
improvisation as well as his peculiarly sage view of life, combining a
respect for zen and the torah. In 1972, he and his wife started the
Piven Theatre Workshop, partly to supplement their incomes, and partly
to have something for their children to do after school, both of whom
pursued acting and directing respectively.
stage actor, director, and co-founder of the Playwrights Theatre Club,
a forerunner of The Second City.Piven was born Bernard Piven in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Katie (née Balaban) and Samuel
Piven, who were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He came to Chicago in
1954 and met Joyce Hiller at the University of Chicago. They were
married a short time later. In the 1950s, the Pivens were two of the
founding members of the Playwrights Theatre Club, along with Paul
Sills and David Shepard. Playwrights featured such budding stars as
Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Ed Asner and Barbara Harris.In the
mid-1950s, the Pivens moved to New York, where they studied with Uta
Hagen. Piven played the leads in several New York Shakespeare Festival
productions. He was also part of the Obie Award-winning cast of A
House Remembered.They returned to Chicago in 1967 to rejoin Sills,
Sheldon Patinkin, Bernie Sahlins and Joyce Sloane in forming Second
City Repertory and then Story Theatre. Piven, charismatic, balding and
bearded, with a beautifully resonant voice, spent some time as an
acting teacher at Northwestern University, offering his expertise in
improvisation as well as his peculiarly sage view of life, combining a
respect for zen and the torah. In 1972, he and his wife started the
Piven Theatre Workshop, partly to supplement their incomes, and partly
to have something for their children to do after school, both of whom
pursued acting and directing respectively.
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