Jakub Maksymov (Czech Republic) is a theatre director, dramaturg, and pedagogue working primarily in the field of puppet and object theatre. A graduate of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre at DAMU in Prague, his work explores the intersection of puppetry with contemporary technologies and hybrid theatrical forms. Object theatre occupies a central position in his artistic and theoretical research.
Maksymov has created productions across Europe, including in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Germany. His work is characterized by experimentation with expressive means, media, and staging principles, often resulting in original, author-driven performances. Notable projects include Chronoskřítkové (Bratislava Puppet Theatre), developed through the principles of puppet cinema, Na vukovom tragu (Youth Theatre Novi Sad, Serbia), incorporating foley techniques, and Tesla (Komedie Theatre, Prague), which engaged with a range of physical experiments.
Alongside his directing work, he is active as a pedagogue, regularly leading workshops focused on puppetry, object theatre, and interdisciplinary creation. He also contributes to theatre scholarship, publishing in books and collections dedicated to theatre theory.
He is the recipient of several awards in the Czech Republic and his work has been recognized at numerous European festivals. From 2018 to 2021, he served as a resident director at Lampion Theatre in Kladno. Since 2023, he has been the artistic director of the Puppet Theatre Ostrava and the director of the international puppet theatre festival Spectaculo Interesse.