Neighborhood Playhouse (New York, N.Y.)

The Neighborhood Playhouse was founded in 1915 by Alice and Irene Lewisohn, as part of the Henry Street Settlement. Many early twentieth-century modern dancers and artists found a professional home at the Neighborhood Playhouse, including composers Ernest Bloch, Kurt Schindler, and Louis Horst, who also worked with Martha Graham. Other notables whose works were produced at the Neighborhood Playhouse include Agnes de Mille, Laura Elliott, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. The Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre closed in 1927 and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre was founded in 1928 by the Lewisohn sisters in association with Rita Wallach Morgenthau.

The Neighborhood Playhouse was founded in 1915, by two sisters Alice and Irene Lewisohn, as part of the Henry Street Settlement House. This neighborhood theatre closed in 1927. In 1928, Irene Lewisohn in collaboration with Rita Wallach Morgenthau founded the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.

In 1905 Irene and Alice Lewisohn began classes and club work at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York. While at the Settlement House they also began to present performances featuring dance and drama. In 1915, the sisters opened the Neighborhood Playhouse on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets, where they offered training in dance and drama to children and teens. Irene Lewisohn oversaw the dance training and production, with the assistance of Blanche Talmud, while Alice Lewisohn led the dramatic work.

In 1928 the Neighborhood Playhouse became the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater. Martha Graham and Louis Horst were put in charge of the dance department, while Irene Lewisohn continued to administer the program.

Throughout her time at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Irene Lewisohn actively produced and wrote action interpretations for “orchestral dramas,” or expressive movement pieces set to musical compositions. She also wrote and helped in the staging of various ballets, pageants, and festival performances. Some of this work is documented in this collection of scenarios.

Philanthropist sisters Alice (1883-1972) and Irene (1892-1944) Lewisohn founded the Neighborhood Playhouse in 1915 as a home for the Neighborhood Players, an amateur acting troupe for adults and children at the Henry Street Settlement on New York City's Lower East Side. The Players participated in pageants and festivals sponsored by the Settlement and produced plays that highlighted the ethnic diversity of the neighborhood.

In 1914, the Lewisohns bought a lot on the corner of Grand and Pitt Streets and donated it to the Settlement as the site of a new theater that would provide better performance space and teaching facilties. The Neighborhood Playhouse opened in 1915, showing both motion pictures and theatrical performances. By 1920, professional actors had replaced the amateurs and the Playhouse became renown for its experimental and avant-garde productions, often incorporating dance, music, and poetry, and for its popular revue, "The Grand Street Follies."

The Playhouse officially closed in 1927. However, under the general management of Helen F. Ingersoll, the company began producing plays on Broadway. In addition, the Lewisohn sisters and Rita Wallach Morganthau established the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 1928. The School is still in operation at 340 East 54th Street.

The Neighborhood Playhouse was founded in 1915 by Alice and Irene Lewisohn, as part of the Henry Street Settlement. Many early 20th century modern dancers and artists found a professional home at the Neighborhood Playhouse, including composers Ernest Bloch, Kurt Schindler, and Louis Horst, who also worked with Martha Graham. Other notables whose works were produced at the Neighborhood Playhouse include Agnes de Mille, Laura Elliott, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman.

The Neighborhood Playhouse Theatre closed in 1927 and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre was founded in 1928 by the Lewisohn sisters in association with Rita Wallach Morgenthau.