Evgeny Demmeni was a Soviet actor, director, and one of the founders of professional puppet theatre in the country. He was born in Saint Petersburg, received a military education, and took part in the First World War and the Civil War. After demobilization, he devoted himself to the theatre. From 1918, he performed on stage as an actor. In 1924, he founded the “Petrushka Theatre”, which later became the Leningrad State Puppet Theatre. Demmeni led the theatre for about forty-five years and staged around 150 productions, including “The Wedding” by Anton Chekhov and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” after Shakespeare, among others. In the 1920s and 1930s, he actively developed the art of puppetry, organized the first professional training courses for directors and actors in this field, directed one of the first European puppet films, “Max and Moritz”, and staged the television production “The Schoolboy in Paradise”. In 1934, he became the first Soviet puppeteer to receive the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. During the Great Patriotic War, his theatre continued to operate in besieged Leningrad and later performed for soldiers after evacuation. Demmeni also created a variety of puppet performances and published works on the theory of puppet theatre. The Bakhrushin Theatre Museum collection holds numerous items related to Evgeny Demmeni’s work as a director, including puppets, programs, posters, and archival documents.