Overview

Ira Lewis Metsky (August 27, 1932 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, writer and playwright whose work spanned stage and screen. He is most closely associated with the one-act play Chinese Coffee, which brought him wider attention in the 1990s and later became a feature film. Over a career that began in 1955 and continued into the early 2000s, Lewis built a reputation for compact, dialogue-driven drama and for writing that foregrounded character interaction and emotional honesty. For background on his acting work see actor profile and for his writing credits see writing credits.

Early life and background

Lewis was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in the northeastern United States during a period when postwar American theater was expanding. Details of his early training are less widely published, but his later career indicates long familiarity with both acting and the craft of playwriting. In his final years he lived in Westfield, New Jersey, and remained connected to regional theatre communities.

Stage and screen career

Lewis worked as an actor and a dramatist for nearly five decades, appearing in stage productions and writing plays produced in New York and elsewhere. He is credited as a playwright and often preferred small-scale, intimate pieces that focused on conversation and character rather than spectacle. For a selection of stage credits see stage credits and for notes on his work as a playwright see playwright notes.

Chinese Coffee

His best-known play, Chinese Coffee, opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 1992 and starred Al Pacino. The piece is a one-act drama built around an extended exchange between characters, notable for its intense focus on dialogue and the fragile bonds between friends and colleagues. Lewis adapted the play for the screen, and a film version was released in 2000 featuring Al Pacino alongside Jerry Orbach. The adaptation preserved the play's conversational structure and its emphasis on performance.

Later life and death

Lewis's active career is generally noted from 1955 to about 2004. He died on April 7, 2015 in Edison, New Jersey, at the age of 82. The cause of death was complications following open heart surgery. At the time he had been residing in Westfield, where he maintained ties to local theater practitioners and writers.

Legacy and notable facts

Although Lewis did not become a household name, his work—especially Chinese Coffee—is frequently cited as an example of concise, actor-centered drama that moves audiences through language and performance more than plot. He is remembered by actors and theatergoers for writing that created demanding, intimate roles and for a modest but steady body of stage work.

For more on Lewis's body of work and specific productions, consult theatre archives and specialty reference sites that track mid-20th-century American playwrights and small-cast dramas. Additional online resources and profiles can be found through the links above for quick reference.