Irene Lewisohn (September 5, 1886 – April 4, 1944) was the founder of the

Neighborhood Playhouse A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural a ...

and the

Museum of Costume Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Biography

She was the daughter of Rosalie Jacobs and Leonard Lewisohn. In 1905 she and her sister,

Alice Lewisohn Alice Lewisohn (1883–1972) was the founder of the Neighborhood Playhouse with her sister Irene Lewisohn. Alice was also an actress. Biography She was the daughter of Rosalie Jacobs and Leonard Lewisohn. In 1905 she and her sister, Irene Lewis ...

, began classes and club work at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York. They produced performances with both dance and drama. In 1915, they opened the

on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets. There they offered training in both dance and drama to children and teenagers. Irene was in charge of the dance training and production, with the assistance of Blanche Talmud. Alice Lewisohn was in charge of the dramatic arts. In 1928 they opened The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre at 16 West Forty-sixth Street. Irene Lewisohn died in 1944. Her father is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

background.

Legacy

*The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library is at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewisohn, Irene 1886 births 1944 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American philanthropists Lewisohn family 20th-century American philanthropists