Don't Mess With Piven

Page Six reports today that the Joe's Pub show The Piven Monologues--a send-up of the actor's bailing-from-Broadway episode--has been temporarily shut down by...The Piven!

SELF-proclaimed sushi sufferer Jeremy Piven has slapped the Public Theater with a "cease and desist" letter over "The Piven Monologues," a comic look at the star's case of mercury poisoning and subsequent pullout from Broadway's "Speed-the-Plow." The show was staged last night and another performance is set for next month. Says Piven attorney Marty Singer, "We didn't say you cannot do the play, we said you can't make defamatory statements about our client."

Next performance is slated for October 2 (Joe's Pub has a busy rotating cabaret schedule), so we'll see if the spoofers can make their case by then. Will the Public Theatre get involved?