Alum of the Month:
Abby Pierce ’06
For teaching artist, director and actor Abby Pierce ’06, storytelling is a way to draw attention to people and experiences that might otherwise be overlooked, an understanding that began taking shape while she was a student at Loyola Academy.
A defining Loyola experience for Abby came during Kairos, when a classmate shared that she was undocumented and spoke about the challenges her family faced. Hearing her story gave Abby a more personal understanding of the issues surrounding immigration and prompted her to think about how she could help bring those experiences to a wider audience. She later helped form a DREAM Team at Loyola and created The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, a documentary about DREAMers and the DREAM Act that was screened at Loyola and shared with schools and parishes.
For Abby, the experience revealed something about storytelling that has stayed with her ever since: stories could take an issue that felt political or abstract and make it deeply personal.
Several Loyola mentors also played an important role in shaping Abby’s curiosity and commitment to social justice. Through Amnesty International (now known as Pax Christi) and Kairos, she became close with Sarah Kennedy, who helped Abby recognize that she did not have to wait until adulthood to make a difference. Theology teacher Scott Myslinski gave her space to explore questions about faith and God. More than 20 years later, both remain part of her life.
After Loyola, Abby attended Loyola Marymount University to study writing, acting and directing. As an actor, she has appeared in shows such as The Bear and Chicago Fire. She has also pursued filmmaking, using it to bring greater attention to people and experiences that are often overlooked. Her work has earned recognition at film festivals across the country, including Best Comedy at the New York Shorts International Film Festival, Audience Choice at the Elevated Film Festival and Best Script at the Deep Focus Film Festival.
Over the past decade, Abby has also carried those values into collaborations with people who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, creating theater, films, poetry and stories alongside them. Rather than defining people by incarceration, she has focused on what so often gets left out of the conversation: their humor, creativity, talent and individuality.
This past summer, two short films Abby wrote and directed premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Both center on young women navigating incarceration, continuing what Abby first discovered at Loyola about whose stories get told and the difference it can make when someone chooses to tell them.
Her advice to current Ramblers is rooted in that same belief: “If you see something in the world that you want to change, you can begin taking action toward it, right where you are,” she says.