Bulgarian puppeteer and professor. A graduate of Puppetry from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Art (today, the Natsionalna akademia za teatralni i filmovi izkustva (NATFA), (National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts) in Sofia, Petar Pashov is the director of around fifty productions, the majority for the Durzhaven kuklen teatur Plovdiv (State Puppet Theatre Plovdiv). He has contributed to the research of new theatrical forms and innovative kinds of puppets.

Thus in his Svetlosiniat Petur (Marine Blue Peter, 1982), for example, he used an unusual assortment of materials and musical effects in combination with the interplay between actors and puppets. He also worked with a very large wooden puppet for Buryata (The Tempest, 1987), while in Don Kihot (Don Quixote, 1989) he used paper dolls which, as the story unfolded, were cast into the fire. This show was so successful at its inception that it was performed for more than fifteen years and represented Bulgaria in numerous international festivals. In Kenturvilskiat Prizrak (The Canterville Ghost) the puppets were constructed from objects, and in Chestna Duma (Honest Words, 2000) they were simply children’s dolls. This highly original work made him famous.

Petar Pashov taught puppetry in the United States and Europe, where he conducted many puppetry workshops and master classes at New York University and Trinity College, Dublin (1995 and 1999). His teachings touch upon key areas of contemporary puppetry such as object theatre and puppet theatre (at the University of Colorado, United States, 1995), object theatre and improvisational theatre (at the International Puppet Institute in Prague), naïve theatre and tabletop puppetry (in Croatia in 2001 and 2002). He also conducts master classes at Stara Zagora in Bulgaria on the theme of puppets in the Balkans (2003, 2004 and 2005). He teaches at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. Since 1992, he is the artistic director of Atelier 313.

Petar Pashov is the recipient of many awards, including the Union of Bulgarian Actors Award, and the Golyamata nagrada na festivala Zlatnia Delfin, the Grand Prix at the Golden Dolphin Festival.

(See Bulgaria.)