Schauspielhaus Zürich AG is managed by a board of directors and an executive board. The executive board consists of a maximum of nine people and is made up of freely elected and delegated members from the city and canton of Zurich. The board of directors consists of the artistic director, commercial director, artistic operations director and technical director.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pınar Karabulut & Rafael Sanchez, Co-directors
Jannike Bartkowiak, Artistic Director
Peter Hüttenmoser, Commercial Director
Dirk Wauschkuhn, Technical Director
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Beate Eckhardt
Co-President since 2023 (joined in 2020)
Stefan Mühlemann
Co-President since 2025 (joined in 2021)
Prof. Dr Ursula Amrein
delegated by the canton of Zurich (joined in 2011)
Markus Bachofen Rösner
Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee since 2025 (joined in 2017)
Rebekka Fässler
delegated by the city of Zurich (joined in 2021)
Alexandros Ioannidis
delegated by the City of Zurich as staff representative (joined in 2022)
Dr Seraina Rohrer
delegated by the Canton of Zurich (joined in 2024)
David Schärer
delegated by the City of Zurich (joined in 2025)
Public limited company
Schauspielhaus Zürich AG has around 550 shareholders who collectively own 3,000 shares with a share capital of CHF 1,500,000. The main shareholders are the City and Canton of Zurich.
Further information about Schauspielhaus Zürich AG can be found in the Articles of Association.
General assembly
The financial year runs from 1 August to 31 July. The Annual General Meeting is held at the end of January of the following year.
The next Annual General Meeting will take place on 27 January 2026 at the Schiffbau.
Protocol of the last Annual General Meeting on 21 January 2025
Shares
BECOME A SHAREHOLDER
As a shareholder in Switzerland's most important spoken theatre, you not only have the opportunity to support our institution, but also to gain a deeper insight into the company at the annual general meeting, to participate in the development of the Schauspielhaus Zürich and to exchange ideas with the board of directors, the management and other shareholders at the subsequent shareholders' aperitif.
Schauspielhaus Zürich AG is not listed on the stock exchange and does not pay monetary dividends. As a shareholder, you will receive one free ticket per season for a performance from our repertoire.
Each spring, shareholders receive an invitation to the season preview presentation, where they are the first to find out which productions will be on the programme for the coming season.
TRANSFERRING SHARES
If your circumstances change and you would like to transfer your Schauspielhaus shares, please contact us and we will be happy to help. We maintain a waiting list of people who would like to become shareholders and can put sellers in touch with potential buyers.
OVER-THE-COUNTER TRADING
Lienhardt und Partner Privatbank also trades Schauspielhaus Zürich shares over the counter. If you have a bank deposit account, you can also purchase or transfer shares directly through the bank. Further information can be found here.
CONTACT
Laura Steiner
Zeltweg 5
8032 Zürich
Annual Reports
Enclosed you will find the annual reports for previous years with reviews of the respective seasons and key financial figures (only in German).
Annual report 2023/24
Annual report 2022/23
Annual report 2020/21
Annual report 2019/20
Previous annual reports
Download Geschäftsbericht 2018/19
Download Geschäftsbericht 2017/18
Download Geschäftsbericht 2016/17
Download Geschäftsbericht 2015/16
Download Geschäftsbericht 2014/15
Download Geschäftsbericht 2013/14
Download Geschäftsbericht 2012/13
Download Geschäftsbericht 2011/12
Download Geschäftsbericht 2010/11
Download Geschäftsbericht 2009/10
Download Geschäftsbericht 2007/08
Download Geschäftsbericht 2006/07
Download Geschäftsbericht 2005/06
Download Geschäftsbericht 2004/05
Download Geschäftsbericht 2003/04
Download Geschäftsbericht 2002/03
Download Geschäftsbericht 2001/02
History
In 1888/89, the “Volkstheater am Pfauen” was built on the current site (the name of the adjacent pub was “Zum Pfauen”), and in 1901 the building was reopened as a playhouse with Goethe's “Mitschuldigen”. The Schauspielhaus remained a private theater until 1938, when it was upgraded artistically by emigrants from Nazi Germany such as Leopold Lindtberg and Therese Giehse and the “Neue Schauspiel AG” was founded. This is where the glorious history of the Schauspielhaus begins: Under the direction of Oskar Wälterlin, some of Bertolt Brecht's most important plays had their world premiere, and after 1945, numerous plays by Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt were premiered at the Pfauen. Incisive authors and directors as well as outstanding actors still characterize the artistic image of the theatre today.
Nobody will believe it: Switzerland's most important spoken theater, the Schauspielhaus Zürich, was a private theater until 1938. Its director and owner, Ferdinand Rieser, put the theater up for sale that same year because he wanted to emigrate to the USA. A one-off campaign was launched to save it and its ensemble from certain destruction. On the initiative of the publisher Emil Oprecht, the dramaturge Kurt Hirschfeld and with the courageous support of the then Social Democratic mayor Emil Klöti, the “Neue Schauspiel AG” was founded. “It was a foundation of social democracy with the capital of liberal citizens,” wrote Peter Löffler, director of the Schauspielhaus in the 1969/70 season.
1892-1933
But back to the beginnings of this theater. In 1892, innkeeper Heinrich Hürlimann had the first permanent theater with a domed building and small stage built on the site of today's Schauspielhaus: The “Volkstheater am Pfauen”. In this building, the outer outlines of which are still preserved today, the audience was seated at long tables during performances. “Berlin farces” and frivolous “Parisian farces” were on the program, as were snake dancers and fakirs: a temple of amusement in the Zurich suburbs.
In 1901, the then director of the opera house, Alfred Reucker, rented the “Volkstheater am Pfauen” to create a venue for the spoken theater. He cleared out the beer tables and wobbly chairs and opened the house with Goethe's “Mitschuldigen”. At first, the audience was by no means friendly to the new, demanding repertoire, but the director nevertheless dared to engage a permanent ensemble for the first time. It is to his credit that this theater, whose architecture was actually unsuitable for modern drama, developed more and more charisma. Nevertheless, both the ensemble and its director were dismissed in 1920 as the deficits increased. After his successor, Ferdinand Rieser, bought the Schauspielhaus and extensively renovated it in 1926, he implemented a contemporary repertoire despite numerous hostilities from the audience - and he was successful. Internationally, however, the Zurich theater was hardly recognized until 1933.
1933-1961
The situation changed fundamentally when Hitler came to power. Many emigrants, actors and actresses from Germany, were taken into the ensemble by Rieser, all of them explicit opponents of National Socialism, they were Jews and/or politically radical leftists. Not all the famous actors and directors who worked in Zurich at the time - and in some cases until 1945 - can be named here: Therese Giehse, Grete Heger, Albert Bassermann, Ernst Ginsberg, Wolfgang Langhoff, Kurt Horwitz, Leonard Steckel, Leopold Lindtberg and many others. In addition to classics, Rieser performed numerous contemporary plays in his theater and premiered works by such renowned authors as Else Lasker-Schüler, Ödön von Horváth, Ferdinand Bruckner, Georg Kaiser and Friedrich Wolf. It was a critical, sometimes militant repertoire with an explicitly anti-fascist thrust. The “frontists” in Switzerland, who adopted Hitler's ideology of anti-Semitism and nationalism, unleashed a real cultural war against the Schauspielhaus. Their combat units did not shy away from violent actions, so that certain performances could only take place under police protection.
It was not only the looming bankruptcy but also this daily threat that led Ferdinand Rieser to decide to sell his theater in 1938. This year was of existential importance for the continued existence of the Schauspielhaus. And without the courage
1961-today
For the first time in its history, the Zurich Schauspielhaus under its director Christoph Marthaler was voted “Theater of the Year” in 2002 and 2003. And since September 2000 - Marthaler's start as artistic director - this theater has had three stages that could not be more different. On the one hand, the traditional Haus am Pfauen and, on the other, two flexible theater spaces - the Schiffbauhalle and the Box im Schiffbau - which have become known throughout Europe in the short time of their existence. Numerous invitations to the Berlin Theatertreffen - between 2003 and 2009 this included productions by Christoph Marthaler, Stefan Pucher, Frank Castorf, Johan Simons, Jan Bosse and Jürgen Gosch - also speak for themselves. After Marthaler's politically sensational departure, the house was managed by Andreas Spillmann in the 2004/05 season and by Artistic Director Matthias Hartmann from the 2005 to 2009 season. From the 2009/2010 season to 2018/2019, Barbara Frey was the first female artistic director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich. Since the 2019/2020 season, Benjamin von Blomberg and Nicolas Stemann have taken up the directorship of the Schauspielhaus.
Author: Bruno Hitz, former dramaturge of the Schauspielhaus
Artistic directors
1938–1961
OSKAR WÄLTERLIN
1961–1965
KURT HIRSCHFELD
1965–1968
LEOPOLD LINDTBERG
1968/69
TEO OTTO, ERWIN PARKER, OTTO WEISSERT
1969/70
PETER LÖFFLER
1970–1977
HARRY BUCKWITZ
1978–1982
GERHARD KLINGENBERG
1982–1989
GERD HEINZ
1989–1992
ACHIM BENNING
1992–1999
GERD LEO KUCK
1999/2000
REINHARD PALM
2000–2004
CHRISTOPH MARTHALER
2004/05
ANDREAS SPILLMANN
2005–2009
MATTHIAS HARTMANN
2009-2019
BARBARA FREY
2019-2024
BENJAMIN VON BLOMBERG UND NICOLAS STEMANN
2024-2025
ULRICH KHUON
