Narayan Shripad Rajhans, popularly known as Bal Gandharva, was a famous Marathi singer and stage actor. He was known for his roles as female characters in Marathi plays, since women were not allowed to act on stage during his time.
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kālidasa. His name was already well-known by the 1st century BCE and he belongs to the late-Mauryan period at the earliest, but the thirteen plays attached to his name are commonly dated closer to the first or second century CE.
Tamasha is a traditional form of Marathi theatre, often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups within the state of Maharashtra, India. It has also been the subject of several Marathi films. Some Hindi movies have also included Tamasha-themed songs, known as Lavanis, in the past.
Prabhakar Panshikar also known as Pant was an actor on Marathi Stage. His character as Lakhoba Lokhande in the drama To Mi Navhech, written by Prahlad Keshav Atre is considered to be one of the immortal roles presented so far on the Marathi theatre. Five unique characters played in this drama To Mee Navhech made him famous in Marathi theatre and Maharashtra. He also performed Aurangzeb's role in a play Ithe Oshalala Mrutyu based on the death of Sambhaji Raje Bhosale. He was the owner of Natyasampada, a Marathi drama production organization.
Bhakti Barve was an Indian film, theatre and television actress in Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati. She is best known for her role in Kundan Shah's comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), where she acted alongside Naseeruddin Shah, Satish Shah and Ravi Baswani.
Vishnudas Bhave and was the leading dramatist of Maharashtra, India and considered as pioneer of Marathi theatre. He was born in Sangli and he staged the first Marathi-language play Sita Swayamvar in Sangli in 1843. In this venture, Bhave was supported by the then king of the princely state of Sangli. After the success of the play Sita Swayamvar, Bhave staged plays on various other episodes of the Ramayana. He traveled with his troupes for the plays. He also ventured into puppet shows. Bhave died on 9 August 1901.
Balwant Pandurang Kirloskar, popularly known as Annasaheb Kirloskar, was a Marathi playwright from the Bombay Presidency in British India.
Govind Ballal Deval (1855–1916) was a Marathi playwright from Bombay Presidency, British India.
Satish Vasant Alekar is a Marathi playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune, and most known for his plays Mahanirvan (1974), Mahapoor (1975), Atirekee (1990), Pidhijat (2003), Mickey ani Memsahib (1973), and Begum Barve (1979), all of which he also directed for the Academy. Along with Mahesh Elkunchwar and Vijay Tendulkar he is considered among the most influential and progressive playwrights in modern Marathi and Indian theatre.
Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar was a Marathi writer from Bombay Presidency, British IndiaIndia. George calls him "a prominent lieutenant of Lokmanya Tilak". He was editor of Kesari, Lokmanya and Navakal. The subject of navakal is political, trade and market price Khadilkar in the beginning of his career wrote prose-plays, but achieved "even greater recognition" with plays like Svayamvara – which had songs which were based on Indian classical music. The notability of his dramatic technique, in his fifteen plays, was to "endow ancient Hindu legends and tales with contemporary political significance". The Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, remarks that while Annasaheb Kirloskar "laid the foundation of popular sangit natak", it saw its great rise and gradual decline with the advent of Khadilkar. It considers Khadilkar along with Bal Gandharva as "the architect of what later on came to be called the golden age of the Marathi drama".
Akhila Bhāratīya Marāṭhī Nāṭya Pariṣhad is a Marathi theatre body who arrange Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Natya Sammelan annually. It was founded in year 1905 by Anant Waman Barve with the help of Babajirao Rane of "Rajapurkar Natak Mandali" and Mujumdar, manager of Kirloskar Natak Mandali. At that time in the erstwhile Bombay state there were many drama companies performing Marathi dramas. Barve was a playwright and wrote a number of dramas performed by different drama companies. He floated the idea of having a central body for Marathi theatre to bring together these drama companies on a common platform to solve problems faced by them. Finally many drama companies agreed to an annual gathering and Barve was chosen as its Hon. Secretary. The first Sammelan was presided by Babasaheb Khaparde a well known Leader of social and political movement in Maharashtra. The present name of the Parishad and the constitution was finalised in the year 1960 in the Delhi Meet of the Parishad. So far every year Meet is arranged at different locations in India where Marathi drama is popular.
Sangeet Natak in Marathi language literally means Musical Drama. As the name suggests, this form of drama combines prose as well as poetry in form of songs to convey the story. In a manner, they are very much similar to Musicals. Sangeet Natakas played a vital role in the development of Marathi theater and thus the Marathi cinema as well as Indian film industry. Sangeet Natak start with praise of Lord Natraja which is called as Naandi or Mangalaacharan or Suchakpad usually the famous one "Panchatunda Nararundamaldhar" from Sangeet Shakuntal. They are popular for use of Indian classical music. The "Dramatic Music" is called Natya Sangeet, one of the two popular forms of vocal arts in Maharashtra and surrounding states. The other is Bhavageet.
Shanta Gokhale is an Indian writer, translator, journalist and theatre critic. She is best known for her works Rita Welinkar and Tya Varshi.
Sangeet Sharada is an 1899 Marathi Sangeet Natak, written and directed by playwright Govind Ballal Deval. The play is considered as the first play in Marathi to showcase the social problems and broke the norms by dealing with the subject of child marriage when dramatic literature in India mainly focused on historical-mythological narrations.
Vidyadhar Oke is an Indian doctor, musicologist, harmonium player, and astrology consultant, who has done research in the use of shrutis (microtones) in Indian classical music and created a unique 22-shruti version of the harmonium.
Vedashree Oke is an Indian actress and playback singer in the Marathi film industry. She has sung in Marathi. She was a part of musical program Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in the year 1997.
Nayana Apte Joshi is an Indian singer-actress who worked in Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati Movies and stage plays.
Ramdas Shantaram Kamat was an Indian musician. He worked in Sangeet Natak, Marathi theatre.
