Krikor Stepan Azaryan (14 March 1934–14 December 2009) was a Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n director.

A Bulgarian Armenian

Armenians in Bulgaria

Armenians are the fourth largest minority in Bulgaria, numbering 10,832 according to the 2001 census, while Armenian organizations estimate up to 22,000. They have been inhabiting the Balkans since no later than the 5th century, when they moved there as part of the Byzantine cavalry...

, Azaryan was born in Plovdiv

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

, Bulgaria's second city

Second City

Second City or The Second City may refer to:* The second largest city in a country. See: List of largest cities and second largest cities by country...

. He graduated from what is today the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts

Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts

The Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts is an institution of higher education based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria...

 in Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

 in 1966 and was a post-graduate student in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 (then Leningrad) in the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. He spent most of his career as a theatre director at the Theatre of the Bulgarian Army, though he has also worked for the Plovdiv Theatre, the National Theatre

Ivan Vazov National Theatre

The Ivan Vazov National Theatre is Bulgaria's national theatre, as well as the oldest and most authoritative theatre in the country and one of the important landmarks of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria...

, the Satire Theatre and Theatre Sofia, as well as theatres in Moscow and Bitola

Bitola

Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...

. He has directed plays by Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

, William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

, Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...

, Nikolay Haytov

Nikolay Haytov

Nikolay Haytov was a Bulgarian fiction writer, playwright, patriot and publicist known for his publications and research regarding the life of Bulgarian revolutioner Vasil Levski....

, etc.

After spending 30 years as a professor of acting at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, Azaryan left the academy to join New Bulgarian University

New Bulgarian University

New Bulgarian University is a private university based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. NBU is the first private university in Bulgaria, and among the top rated by Bulgarian businesses universities in the country...

's theatre department in 2005. Azaryan was married to poet Valentina Radinska.