Carlos Lázaro Díaz Alfonso

Carlos Lázaro Díaz Alfonso, known as Carlos Díaz, was born on October 21, 1955, in Bejucal, Cuba. He is one of the most prominent stage directors in contemporary Cuban theater and the founder of Teatro El Público, the Havana company he has led since the early 1990s.

His best-known productions include La niñita querida, Caligula, Peer Gynt, Antigonón, un contingente épico and The Maids. In January 2015 he received Cuba's National Theater Prize; the jury, chaired by actress Verónica Lynn, described him as "a benchmark of the country's stage and a tireless man of the theater."

In recent years he has staged Spanish Golden Age classics for the Classics Festival in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, co-produced with Miami's FUNDarte: La Celestina, seen in Miami in January 2024, and Lope de Vega's The Dog in the Manger, which had its North American premiere in October 2026.