Vantile Whitfield
| Vantile Whitfield | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Vantile Emmanuel Whitfield September 8, 1930 Washington, D.C., US |
| Died | January 9, 2005 (aged 74) Washington, D.C. |
| Cause of death | Alzheimer's Disease |
| Other names | Motojicho |
| Education | Dunbar High School, 1948 |
| Alma mater |
Howard University, (BA, 1957) UCLA, (master’s degree in film production, 1967) |
| Occupation | Arts administrator, director, playwright, actor and production designer |
| Known for | Influential arts administrator, director, playwright, set designer and educator. |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Ellen Cobbs(m. 1950) (divorced) Barbara Ann Grant(m. 1960) (divorced) Lynn Whitfield (1974-1978) (divorced) Loretta Collins(1993-2005) (his death) |
| Children | Elizabeth Whitfield Bellina Whitfield-Logan Lance Vantile Whitfield |
| Parent(s) | Theodore Roosevelt Whitfield Lugene Ellen Green |
| Awards | NAACP Image Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award |
Vantile Whitfield (September 8, 1930 – January 9, 2005) was a highly influential arts administrator who helped found several performing arts institutions in the United States.
Vantile Emmanuel Whitfield was born on September 8, 1930, in Washington, D.C., the only child of Theodore Roosevelt Whitfield (1902–1971) and Lugene Ellen Green. While a student at Dunbar High School, he played football and became interested in painting.
After high school, he served in the Air Force until 1952.
Whitfield studied theatre at Howard University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957. After graduation, he enrolled in the master's degree program at the UCLA Film School, becoming one of the first African Americans to study there.
In 1963, Whitfield co-founded with actor Frank Silvera the American Theatre of Being in Los Angeles. While there he taught acting classes with Beah Richards, Whitman Mayo and Isabel Sanford. Also in 1963, Whitfield designed the sets, lights and costumes for Silvera's production of the James Baldwin play The Amen Corner, becoming the first African-American production designer to work on Broadway. The following year, Whitfield founded and served as producing artistic director of the Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles (PASLA). The goal of PASLA was to help train inner-city youth in the performing arts.
He was also founding Artistic Director of Studio West and co-founder with actor Robert Hooks of the D.C. Black Repertory Company.
In 1971, Whitfield was the founding director of the Expansion Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In this role, he had perhaps his greatest influence, because this program provided funds for many African-American artists and arts organizations.
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