She and her husband, Byrne, founded the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston in the 70s.
"Not quite sure how to navigate without her yet this beautiful life is about transformation which was one of her theater games," her son said as he made the announcement on social media.
Jeremy said his mother brought the Arthur Miller short story "The Performance" to his attention.
He explained how he eventually made it into a film and is a tribute to her honor.
"We don't know how long we have here in this human form but I can tell you that we lost a good one. She's dancing with my father.," Jeremy said.
Joyce Piven was 94.