Director Statement
Four years ago I was acting on Broadway… Avenue… in Chicago… to 14 people in a small bar turned tiny theater at noon on a Saturday. It was a play about a girl who ripped her heart out of her chest to give to a the boy she loved (because he was born with a paper heart). A strange play that made huge fans of the handful of people that saw it. The play, “With Love and a Major Organ” was written by Canadian playwright Julia Lederer. A year after that, Julia flew to Chicago for our first co-writing session.
Julia and I share an appreciation for magical realism and romantic comedy, and after writing a feature film, we decided to make the short film “Eat Your Heart Out”. EYHO exists in a similar world of Julia’s play, taking the metaphor of ripping a heart out of a chest to the literal.
I live in a coffin factory turned publishing house turned apartment. My upstairs neighbor, Isz, is an artist and we incorporated his studio and artwork into the world’s aesthetic. The quirky locations gave us the backdrop for our broken-hearted treasure hunt. The film is an adult fairy tale, with beautiful steady wide shots that give the feel of the turning of a picture book. “Eat Your Heart Out” is a journey through the absurdity of healing heart ache.
Abby Pierce
Director
Abby is a teacher, actor, director and writer. She teaches improv and theater at Cook County Jail, a maximum security facility in Chicago. She is currently directing “Hopelessly Devoted” at Piven Theatre, which will perform in local jails. Her acting can be seen on “Chicago P.D.”, “Proven Innocent”, and “Chicago Fire”. Abby will be acting in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn’s “The Adventures of Augie March”. She is also the creator of the goofball web series “The Exquisite Corpse” presented by OpenTV.
