The historic Glenside theater has been through many ups and downs throughout its 93 years, including fires and floods, where it has evolved from a film/vaudeville hall, to a movie theater, and to its current version- offering live musical, comedy, and dramatic acts in a 1,300 seat performance space.  After its pandemic-related closing, the Keswick Theater will reopen Saturday, August 14, with Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winner Jeremy Piven.

Piven is best known for playing Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the HBO series “Entourage.” Fans of PBS will recognize him from the dramatic series “Mr. Selfridge,” in which he plays a character based on the real Harry Selfridge, who founded Selfridges Department Store in London.  His most recent film “Last Call,” about a real estate investor returning to his working class community, is set in Delaware County.

     What can audiences expect from the Keswick appearance?  In recent years, Piven has added stand up comedy to his repertoire. Not one to back down from a challenge, “It is my job during that hour to make you laugh and if I don’t, it is all on me,” he said. “And I love that pressure!”

     The son of actors Bryne and Joyce Piven, Jeremy has been on stages performing since the age of eight.  His parents ran the Piven Theater Workshop in Evanston, IL, teaching children and adults in what the theater calls “ensemble-based, community-oriented approach to theatre training and performance.” The Workshop, which still exists, emphasizes theater games and improv-based training techniques, encouraging actors to take “bold creative risks.” John and Joan Cusack, Lili Taylor, Aidan Quinn, and Jeremy’s sister, director Shira Piven, are fellow alums.

     Piven carries the lessons from his first teachers to this day.  Still close with his mother, he respects her reactions to his work. “My mom would always embrace the light…she was very affirming,” he said. “She would tell you all the things you had done well and then somehow slip you a note.” 

      He recently started a podcast called “How U Livin’ J Piven,” where he holds extended conversations with fellow thespians and comics such as Jamie Foxx, Tiffany Haddish, and Malcolm McDowell.   A propensity for continuing to work on his craft is apparent.  “I just feel like you are never too old or accomplished to learn from other people,” Piven explained.

     He recently asked another performer whether they were still open to notes. “He was a little apprehensive about that,” Jeremy said. “I thought, man, I would take a note from anyone. It doesn’t mean that I will execute it, but I am open to anything. Every one has a valid opinion.”

     He agrees with a friend who told him that doing stand up would make him a better actor.  “At first I thought, that sounds insane,” he said.  “But when you stay in one lane your whole life creatively and then you venture off into something, it’s the same engine but a different gear, and you really test yourself. When you go back into the other lane, that lane has been enhanced, because you have no rust on you.”

     He related an incident when his late father was directing him in rehearsal and said to him, “there is one actor in this room, and you ain’t it.”  “And he was right,” said Jeremy.  “I was not progressing in that rehearsal and he gave me tough love because he cared...and I appreciated it.”

     What else did he learn from those early teachers? “When you put in the homework and you own the lines so you are not reaching for them…You are totally present in the moment and you are able to make it feel improvisational,” Piven said. “You are in a state of play; that is a great place to be.”

      He admitted that it is not always easy to get to the place, the state of play.  “It is hard, and that is why every person you run into isn’t an actor,” he said.  “There is a little method to the madness. When people, maybe when they see me, they think that I am Ari Gold, that’s a very big compliment.”

     During his stand up act, Piven tells stories from his work and personal life, and does “act outs” where he portrays the characters in the story, including impressions of other celebrities.

     He loves interacting with audiences, although sometimes it can get a little strange.  People in his audiences tend to yell out lines from different characters. “I’ll be in the middle of a bit and they will yell out ‘Lloyd—let’s hug it out b---- .’ ”

     “It gets a bit confusing,” he admits  “It sounds like people may have Tourette’s or you’re at a press conference or something.”

     As to future plans, Piven would like to be doing more of his own projects so that people will get a sense of who he is, as opposed to a fictional character. He’s currently acting in a prison film (“The Walk,” set for a 2022 release), where he plays a prison warden, and not the good kind.

     Whatever one says about Jeremy Piven, he is no slacker. If one avenue is blocked, he will try another, whether it is stand up comedy, a podcast, or launching his own cigar brand.

     He referred to some advice he heard from comedian Chris Rock. “When your car is broken down and you put your thumb out, people aren’t going to stop. But as soon as you start pushing your car, people are going to stop and help.”

      So if you are ready for some laughs in these crazy unpredictable times, check out Piven’s set at the Keswick later this month.