Lewis Whittington is an arts journalist based in Philadelphia. He started writing professionally in the early 90s as a media consultant for an AIDS organizations and then as a theater and dance reviewer for the Philadelphia Gay News. Mr. Whittington has covered dance, theater, opera and classical music for the Philadelphia Inquirer and City Paper.
Mr. Whittington’s arts profiles, features, and stories have appeared in The Advocate, Dance International, Playbill, American Theatre, American Record Guide, The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, EdgeMedia, and Philadelphia Dance Journal. Mr. Whittington has received two NEA awards for journalistic excellence.
In addition to interviews with choreographers, dancers, and artistic directors from every discipline, he has interviewed such music luminaries from Ned Rorem to Eartha Kitt. He has written extensively on gay culture and politics and is most proud of his interviews with such gay rights pioneers as Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings.
Mr. Whittington has participated on the poetry series Voice in Philadelphia and has written two (unpublished) books of poetry. He is currently finishing Beloved Infidels, a play about the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. His editorials on GLBTQ activism, marriage equality, gay culture and social issues have appeared in Philadelphia Inquirer, City Paper, and The Advocate.
Jermel Johnson gave his final performance as a Philadelphia Ballet principal dancer at the Academy of Music on May 15 to an audience of his
About 200 people gathered at City Hall on May 11 for a noontime #FundPHLArts Rally calling on the Kenney administration to invest more in the city’s nonprofit
On the Forrest Theater stage for the first time in two years, and alas, the last time, was this chapter of the dancers of the
In the early 90s, Pennsylvania Ballet members Michael Sheridan, Nick Stuccio, Leslie Carothers, and Kelly Moriarty co-founded Shut-Up & Dance, a benefit performance to raise
Choreographer Kun-Yang Lin and his company KYL/Dancers returned to live performances at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre last weekend. Featured was the long-delayed US premiere of
Choreographer Rennie Harris’ Philadelphia hometown fans and dance colleagues filled the lobby of the Annenberg Center for the first of three performances of his dance-theater
Philadelphia Ballet followed up its run of Swan lake this month with a challenging triple bill of ballets by George Balanchine, administered a corporate grant
On a cold Philadelphia night in late February, the CHI Movement Arts Center in South Philadelphia was filled to audience capacity for the first time
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre embarks on a national tour this month. This weekend, it will be at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia