Serbian author and playwright. Born in a Roma family in Kovilj near the town of Novi Sad, Stevan Pešić attended the Grammar School in Sremski Karlovci. After moving to Belgrade, he travelled through Europe, supporting himself by jobs. After travelling across Asia for several years (Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka), he settled in Belgrade as a freelance author of books, plays, television, and radio. His travel literature, for example Katmandu (1982) and Tibetanci (The Tibetans, 1988), made him one of the best-known Serbian contemporary travel writers. His plays for puppets and theatre for youth are considered classics.

Pešić’s puppet shows and plays for children, including Krilata krava (The Winged Cow), Guska na mesecu (The Goose on the Moon), Čudno čudo (The Strange Miracle), Grad sa zečjim ušima (The Town with Rabbit Ears), Čudesni vinograd (The Amazing Vineyard), A Hunting Story, Can’t Do Without a Horse, and others, had by the end of the 20th century become part of the standard repertoire of puppet and children’s theatre in Serbia and Yugoslavia and have a lasting significance for the contemporary Serbian theatre.

Stevan Pešić’s works, including about twenty dramatic pieces, are a valuable contribution to the development of dramaturgy in puppet and children’s theatre in Serbia and Yugoslavia in the late 20th century. His drama is characterized by wonderful and fantastic events. Pešić thought that “puppetry is the absolute theatre”.

(See Serbia.)

Bibliography

  • “Stevan Pešić”. http://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevan_Pešić. Accessed 17 June 2013.
  • Živanović, Sanja. Dramaturgija čudesnog u bajkovitim lutka-igrama Stevana Pešića “Guska na Mesecu”, “Bor visok do neba”,”Čudesni vinograd” [Dramaturgy of the Magical Fairy Tale Puppets of Stevan Pesic “The Goose on the Moon”, “Sky High Pine”, “The Amazing Vineyard”]. Beograd [Belgrade]: Magistarski rad, Fakultet dramskih umetnosti, Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu, juni, 1999.