Erik Altorfer

Erik Altorfer began his professional artistic work as an assistant director at the Schauspielhaus Zürich in Switzerland. Since 1997, he has worked as a director, author and dramaturg for theatre and radio. Altorfer served as Artistic Director of Dramenprozessor, the Swiss playwrights’ development programme which was awarded the Swiss Theatre Prize in 2015. He has led writing workshops in Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, and Egypt, and has commissioned, directed, and adapted numerous radio plays for German and Swiss broadcasters. 

Between 2019 and 2021, he curated Sounds Like a Whisper, an audio drama and blog production for Theatre is a Must in Alexandria, developed with Egyptian and Syrian artists and has several of his works as part of Mawgat, Cairo’s International Radio Drama Festival. Since 2020 he has been working with Theater HORA in Zürich, conducting annual writing workshops. In 2021, he led an audio play workshop with NBO Musical Theatre Initiative, delivered a masterclass on directing audio plays at KITF, Kampala International Theatre Festival and started working for the Swiss broadcaster RSI. Between 2022 and 2024, Altorfer worked with artists in Nairobi, Kampala, and Kigali on audio storytelling projects—coaching the development of their first audio plays presented at KITF Kampala, KITFest Nairobi, and Ubumuntu Arts Festival—and concluded a three-year collaboration with Hewar Theatre and the Theatre is a Must Festival in Alexandria, Egypt. Altorfer also teaches at the Zürich University of Teacher Education.