Irene Lewisohn

Irene Lewisohn (September 5, 1886 – April 4, 1944) was a Broadway performer, composer, and theatrical producer born in New York, New York. A daughter of Rosalie Jacobs and Leonard Lewisohn, she became one of the most significant figures in early twentieth-century American theater through her work as a co-founder of the Neighborhood Playhouse and her active presence on the Broadway stage between 1922 and 1926.

Lewisohn's theatrical career had its roots in community arts work. In 1905, she and her sister Alice Lewisohn began teaching classes and leading club activities at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York, where they organized performances combining dance and drama. That collaborative foundation led to the opening of the Neighborhood Playhouse in 1915, situated on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets. The institution provided training in both dance and dramatic arts to children and teenagers. Within that partnership, Lewisohn took responsibility for dance training and production, working alongside Blanche Talmud, while Alice oversaw the dramatic arts program. In 1928, the sisters expanded their educational mission by opening the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre at 16 West Forty-sixth Street.

Her Broadway credits reflect a range of ambitious productions. During her performing and composing career on Broadway, Lewisohn was associated with works including A Burmese Pwe, The Apothecary, Kuan Yin, The Dybbuk, and The Little Clay Cart, among other productions staged between 1922 and 1926.

Beyond the stage, Lewisohn co-founded the Museum of Costume Art, an institution that endures through the Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She died on April 4, 1944.