3,335 articles
Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley (born 1947, Big Spring, Texas) is a Tony Award-winning American actress and singer, the original Broadway Grizabella in Cats singing Memory, also known for Eight Is Enough, Carrie, Sunset Boulevard, and 20 albums including Enough.
Beverley Cross
Beverley Cross (Alan Beverley Cross, 1931-1998) was an English playwright, librettist, and screenwriter, author of Half a Sixpence and screenwriter of Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, and second husband of Maggie Smith.
Beyond the Horizon
Beyond the Horizon is the title of several literary and entertainment works, most notably Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1920 play and Amma Darko's 1995 debut novel about migration.
Bhamakalapam
Bhamakalapam (Bhama Kalapam) is a Kuchipudi dance-drama of Andhra Pradesh, composed by Siddhendra Yogi, centered on Satyabhama's quarrel with Krishna and reconciliation, and regarded as the founding work of the Kuchipudi tradition.
Bhana
Bhana is a one-act Sanskrit dramatic form performed by a single actor who narrates incidents to imagined offstage characters, counted among the ten types of Sanskrit drama in Bharata's Natyashastra.
Bhand Pather
Bhand Pather, sometimes called Bhand Jashna, is a centuries-old open-air folk theater of Kashmir performed by Bhand community troupes, combining satire, clownery, dance, and improvisation, and now endangered.
Bhangra (ਭੰਗੜਾ) (dance)
Bhangra (ਭੰਗੜਾ) is a Punjabi men's harvest dance from the Majha region, danced at Vaisakhi to the dhol, later transformed into British-Asian hybrid music and a global diasporic dance scene.
Bhaona
Bhaona (ভাওনা) is a traditional devotional theater of Assam, in which one-act plays called Ankiya Nat are performed with music, dance, and masks since the fifteenth century.
Bharata Muni
Bharata Muni is the sage traditionally credited with the Natyashastra, the Sanskrit treatise on theater, dance, and music dated between the 2nd century BCE and the 6th century CE.
Bharatanatyam (பரதநாட்டியம்)
Bharatanatyam (பரதநாட்டியம்), also called sadir, is the classical dance form of Tamil Nadu, one of eight Sangeet Natak Akademi-recognized Indian classical dances, renamed from sadir in 1932 and revived by Rukmini Devi Arundale's Kalakshetra.
Bhikhari Thakur
Bhikhari Thakur, भिखारी ठाकुर, was an Indian Bhojpuri-language playwright, actor, folk singer, and social reformer who created the Bidesiya folk theater form of Bihar, called the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri.
Bianca Del Rio
Bianca Del Rio (Roy Haylock, born 1975) is an American drag queen and insult comedian from Louisiana; winner of RuPaul's Drag Race season 6 (2014), first drag queen to headline Carnegie Hall and Wembley Arena, star of Hurricane Bianca and seven stand-up tours.
Bidesia
Bidesia (बिदेसिया) is a Bhojpuri folk theater form from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, created by Bhikhari Thakur to depict labor migration and the sorrow of abandoned wives.
Big Jay Oakerson
Big Jay Oakerson (Jason Michael Oakerson, born 1977, Philadelphia) is an American stand-up comedian known for crowd work, specials Live at Webster Hall, Dog Belly, and Them/They, The Bonfire on SiriusXM, and Legion of Skanks.
Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey, born Mark Robert Bailey in 1965, is an English comedian, musician, and actor known for musical stand-up shows and for starring in Black Books.
Bill Burr
Bill Burr is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster from Canton, Massachusetts, host of the Monday Morning Podcast, star of F Is For Family and Old Dads, with eight hour-long specials including Drop Dead Years.
Bill Engvall
Bill Engvall (William Ray Engvall Jr., born 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor from Galveston, Texas, known for "Here's your sign" and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy.
Bill Hader
Bill Hader (born 1978, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director, an SNL cast member 2005-2013 known for Stefon, voice of Fear in Inside Out, and Emmy-winning co-creator-star of HBO's Barry (2018-2023).
Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks (William Melvin Hicks, 1961-1994), American stand-up comedian and social critic from Houston, Texas; albums Dangerous, Relentless, Arizona Bay, Revelations; cult figure in Britain, died of pancreatic cancer at 32.
Bill Irwin
Bill Irwin (born 1950, Santa Monica, California) is an American actor, clown, and writer: Tony winner for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, MacArthur Fellow, creator of The Regard of Flight and Fool Moon, and Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle.
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright (William Kenwright, 1945–2023) was a British theatre producer behind Blood Brothers and over 500 productions, founder of Bill Kenwright Ltd, and chairman of Everton FC from 2004 until his death.
Bill Maher
Bill Maher (born 1956) is an American comedian and political satirist, host of Politically Incorrect (1993–2002) and HBO's Real Time, recipient of the 2026 Mark Twain Prize.
Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie (William Edgar Oddie, 1941–2026), English comedian of The Goodies and Britain's best-known birdwatcher, original presenter of BBC Springwatch, OBE 2003, author of Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book.
Bill Robinson
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878–1949), born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, was an American tap dancer and actor, "King of Tap Dancers," star of Blackbirds of 1928 and the Stair Dance, and Shirley Temple's film partner.
Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly (born 1942, Glasgow), "The Big Yin", Scottish stand-up comedian, banjo player, and actor; ex-Clyde shipyard welder, Humblebums folk singer, 1975 Parkinson breakthrough, D.I.V.O.R.C.E. No. 1, knighted 2017, retired from stand-up 2018 with Parkinson's, now an artist.
Billy Van Zandt
Billy Van Zandt, American comedy playwright, actor, and TV writer from Middletown, NJ; with partner Jane Milmore wrote 23 farces including You've Got Hate Mail and Love, Sex, and the I.R.S.; half-brother of Steven Van Zandt; distinct from musician Steven and singer Brooklyn Van Zandt.
Birju Maharaj (बिरजू महाराज)
Pandit Birju Maharaj (बिरजू महाराज, born Brijmohan Nath Mishra, 1938–2022) was the leading Kathak dancer of the Lucknow (Kalka-Bindadin) gharana, longtime head of Delhi's Kathak Kendra, founder of Kalashram, and winner of the Padma Vibhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and a 2012 National Film Award.
Black box theater
Black box theater: a simple, unadorned flexible performance space with black walls, a flat floor, movable seating, and no fixed stage; also called a studio theater. Configurable as proscenium, thrust, or arena per production; rooted in 1960s experimental theater.
Black British Theatre Awards
Black British Theatre Awards (BBTAs), UK theatre awards founded in 2019 by Solange Urdang and Omar F. Okai celebrating Black performers and creatives; seventh ceremony held 2025 at the Piccadilly Theatre; 2026 ceremony cancelled and the company entered liquidation.
Black comedy
Black comedy, also called dark comedy, is a genre of comedy that finds humor in morbid, grotesque, or calamitous subjects such as death, violence, and other taboo topics.