Serbian theatre director, author, editor, and theatre, film, and drama pedagogue. Radoslav Lazić graduated in 1964 after studying directing with Vjekoslav Afrić at the Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio and Television in Belgrade. He completed his postgraduate studies in Theatre Studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade with additional diplomas in theatre studies from University of Paris in 1981 and 1984. Since 1976, he has taught at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (directing, history/aesthetics of directing, etc.). He has also taught history and theory of world puppetry in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

In his directing career, Radoslav Lazić has developed over ten experimental works for the puppet stage, exploring essential expression in puppet animation, including: glass puppets for Belkina bitka (Belka’s Battle), Puppet Theatre, Niš; Über-marionettes in Simpatija i antipatija (Sympathy and Antipathy), Little Theatre, Belgrade; puppets on an imaginary water surface for Ružno pace (Ugly Duckling) and Volšebni magarac (Miraculous Donkey), Puppet Theatre, Zrenjanin; puppets as constructions with the movement inside for Šamoklo i Avgustina (Šamoklo and Augustina) and Kuckava bajka (The Ticking Tale), Children’s Theatre Gyermek Szinhaz, Subotica. 

He is the author of over fifty books and numerous articles on theatre, opera, film, television, puppet theatre, aesthetics, and theatre scenic design. Selected publications related to puppetry are listed in the bibliography. He wrote about the puppetry in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts first published in French by UNIMA in 2009 as Encyclopédie mondiale des arts de la marionnette. In a project supported by the Serbian Ministry of Culture, he wrote the first History of Puppetry in Serbia for Subotica International Children’s Theatre Festival.

Radoslav Lazić is a member of international expert juries and arts associations including UNIMA and ASSITEJ. He is the recipient of the Award of the Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio and Television (1964), and has won awards for theatre directing and film research. He received the Little Prince Lifetime Achievement Award (Subotica, 2004). At the 40th Meeting of the Professional Puppet Theatres of Serbia in Niš in 2008, he received the Boško Zeković Prize of the Youth Theatre from Novi Sad for his contributions to puppetry in Serbia. He won the International Prize for Contribution to Dramatic Education “Grozdanin kikot” of the Youth Theatre of the Centre for Dramatic Education in Mostar (2008). In 2009, Radoslav Lazić was honoured for his contributions to the Lut-fest in East Sarajevo.   

(See Serbia.)