At No. 466 Grand Street it stands, far away from Broadway’s theatrical district—­a low-lying, little Georgian building.  It is but three stories high, built of light red brick, and finished with white marble.  All around garish millinery shops display their showy goods.  Peddlers with pushcarts lit by flickering flames, vie with each other in their array of gaudy neckties and bargain shirtwaists.  Blazing electric signs herald the thrills of movie shows.  And, salient by the force of extreme contrast, a plain little white posterboard makes its influence felt.  It is lit by two iron lanterns, and reads simply, “The Neighborhood Playhouse.”

The Misses Irene and Alice Lewisohn of No. 43 Fifth Avenue have built this theatre.  It is their gift to the neighborhood, and symbolizes the culmination of a work which they have shared with the neighborhood’s people.

Eight years ago the Henry Street Settlement started its scheme of festivals and pantomimes, portraying through the medium of color, song, and dance such vague ideas as “Impressions of Spring.”  It was the boys and girls of the Settlement who performed in these pantomimes.  It was they who made the costumes, painted the necessary scenery, sang and danced.

And both daughters of the late Leonard Lewisohn were always interested and active in promoting this work.

Out of it, in due time, there developed, quite naturally, a dramatic club.  Plays were given in the Settlement gymnasium—­full-grown pieces like “The Silver Box,” by John Galsworthy, and inspiring dramas like “The Shepherd,” a plea for Russian revolutionists, by an American author, Miss Olive Tilford Dargan.  Such was the emotional response of the neighborhood to this drama that four performances had to be given at Clinton Hall; and as a result a substantial sum of money was forwarded to “The Friends of Russian Freedom.”

Then, in 1913, came the famous Pageant, which roused the entire district to a consciousness of itself—­its history, its dignity and also its possibilities.

That portion of the East Side which surrounds the Henry Street Settlement has seen many an invasion since the days when the Dutch first ousted the Indians.  English, Quakers, Scotch have come and gone, leaving traces more or less distinct.  The Irish have given place to the Italians, who have been replaced by the Russians.  In the Pageant of 1913 all these settlers were represented by artistically clad groups who paraded the streets singing and dancing.  No hall could have held the audience which thronged to see this performance; no host of matinee worshippers could have rivalled it in fervor of appreciation.

When the Misses Lewisohn, then, built their new playhouse in Grand Street, it was not with the intention of rousing, but rather of satisfying, an artistic demand among the people of the neighborhood.  And in the new home are to be continued all the varied activities of which the Henry Street Settlement festival and dramatic clubs were but the centre.  It is to be a genuine community enterprise in which each boy and girl will have a share.  Miss Alice Lewisohn herself thus expresses its many-sided work: