Jeremy Piven Mesmerizes Audiences in the Jewish Drama, “The Performance”

Jeremy Piven is one of those rare actors who completely gives of himself to every role he takes on. Catching the acting bug from his drama instructor parents who ran their own theatre, he started acting when he was a young boy.

“I don’t remember exactly how it happened but I crawled up on stage at eight years old,” Piven told Aish.com. “My parents threw me up there. They needed a child actor, and so I got up there, and was the kid in ‘The Seagull!’ John Cusack and I would alternate roles from one night to the next. I had a great time! They always instilled this ideology that we’re enough in this life, whatever we are is enough to get up on stage and contribute. And to never think that we’re not enough.”

Piven’s mother Joyce, died last week at the age of 94.

The Piven Theatre Workshop, which opened 50 years ago, is still open today, offering workshops and creative community activities.

Jeremy Piven with his mother Joyce

The veteran actor explored his own Judaism with his latest film, “The Performance,” which he feels is his best work. Based on a short story by Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Arthur Miller, (“Death of a Salesman,” “A View from The Bridge” and “The Crucible”) the movie is set in 1937, during pre-Nazi Germany, as the fascist atmosphere is nearing its brutal pinnacle.

Piven plays Harold May, an American Jew and gifted tap dancer on tour with his dance troupe in Europe. He meets Damian Fugler, a German attaché, who offers them a lot of money to perform one exclusive show in Berlin.

This starts a very tricky situation, with May having to choose between keeping his religion a secret for the sake of his dreams or owning up to who he really is.

“This movie is a miracle, and I’m very proud to get it out,” acknowledged PIven. “Finally, after 15 years of working on the film, we can start to unpack some of these uncomfortable conversations about antisemitism and repressors and the oppressed and all that stuff.”

As a Jew, Piven was drawn to the role and was fascinated with the complex script.

“It’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to do the film. My mom gave me the story that was published in The New Yorker. I remember reading the scene – there’s this incredible moment that can only be revealed in the power of storytelling, which reveals our humanity. I think it was the best illustration of the horrors of antisemitism I’d ever seen in my life. And I thought, ‘If I can pull this off, I will really be contributing something.’”

Decades later, the film has even more power to it now, given what Jewish people have been dealing with, he noted. “We didn’t time this. It wasn’t premeditated. Who knew that there would be such a rise in antisemitism at the moment that the film comes out?”

Jeremy Piven in The Performance

Piven said the way that he contributed to the conversation is through his work.

“You know, a lot of people, unfortunately, either don’t know about history, or it’s revisionist, or I don’t know what’s going on. But obviously, the Holocaust happened, and there are people that don’t really know that the term genocide came from the Holocaust, and so they’re throwing that word around against Jews, and it’s very confusing.”

He continued: “So this is a beautiful story that takes place with the backdrop of the Holocaust and how it affected people and how my character is in denial. Today, in terms of the horrors of antisemitism, we all thought never again, and here we are.”

Piven has an uncle, Jerome, who died in World War II, who he was named after.

“Jerome was kind of the leader of my family, with my father and his other brother. He was a war hero and very religious. It was very devastating for my family. Obviously, to have someone die so young. He said to my father, ‘I’m not afraid of dying. I just love living so much.’”

When the movie opens next month, Piven would love to come back to Israel and screen the film. “That would truly be incredible for me. And I’d love to perform my standup comedy there as well.”

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