Biography
«I believe in the power of attention. For me, theatre, film and literature begin when we engage with other people, stories or unfamiliar experiences.»
Roman Weishaupt grew up in Val Lumnezia, a Romansh-speaking mountain region in Graubünden with a strong sense of community. Like many before and after him, he is one of those who left. The wider world inspires him, as does the possibility of returning. Sursilvan is his first language. For him, multilingualism is not just a means of communication, but a way of seeing the world.
Theatre, music and literature drew him in from an early age, and his passion for reading soon led him to write. While training as a primary school teacher, he took part in Dis da Litteratura and writing competitions, translated Calderón into Sursilvan and created his first theatre production with friends. After two years of teaching, he studied theatre at the Zurich University of the Arts, focusing on directing, theatre education and acting. He graduated in 2006. That same year, he walked 2,400 kilometres from his home village to Santiago de Compostela and documented the journey in the feature-length film «Zu Fuss nach Santiago de Compostela», which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2007. Journeys, origins and what a person carries with them have remained recurring motifs in his work.
Weishaupt began directing and building long-term theatre structures early in his career. In 2007, he established the Junges Theater programme at Theater Chur; in 2011, he founded Junges Theater Graubünden with Chris Hunter and Corsin Zarn. The company enabled young people from across the canton and its language regions to develop theatre with professional guidance. Weishaupt led it until 2020; in 2016, the organisation received the Swiss Theatre Award. Today, Junges Theater Graubünden is an independent and firmly established cultural institution.
A central focus of his work is Romansh-language theatre, as well as collaboration between professional artists and non-professional performers from the region. He has worked with small ensembles, large choirs, and hundreds of participants. As a director, his work ranges from Goethe and Haydn to contemporary writing by Arno Camenisch. He founded a mobile professional theatre company for young audiences and families called BAGAT – producziun da teater.
Weishaupt writes plays, stories, song lyrics and libretti in Sursilvan and German, and translates for the stage. His work ranges from intimate narratives to large-scale theatrical forms. It includes the libretto for the Christmas oratorio «Nadal – in oratori», the historical crime comedy «Comander», co-written with Remo Arpagaus, and «Peiden», co-written with Bruno Cathomas and produced by Weishaupt at Theater Chur. He is currently developing a personal multilingual solo performance.
Weishaupt stages theatre in unusual locations, including warehouses, bars, forests and moving trains. For the Rhaetian Railway, he created «Geführte Zeitreise ins UNESCO-Welterbe RhB», a five-hour theatrical journey from Chur to St. Moritz in which the train, tunnels, viaducts and passing landscape became part of the dramaturgy. For Anna Catrina AG, he developed «Il marcau raquenta / Die Stadt erzählt», a staged historical tour of Ilanz. Both formats ran for several years, bringing history to life through direct encounters.
In 2019, Roman Weishaupt became the first theatre professional from Graubünden to be appointed Director of Theater Chur. From 2020 to 2024, he led the institution as Executive and Artistic Director. During the pandemic, he modernised its organisational and digital structures, strengthened in-house and co-productions and theatre education, and opened the theatre further to the city and its neighbourhoods. He initiated the theatre magazine PROSPECT and initiated two editions of the international festival «DigiDays – Theatre and Digitality». In the 2022/23 season, Theater Chur was the only presenting theatre nominated for “Overall Performance of a Theatre in the Season” in the Theater heute critics’ poll.
An Executive Master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of Zurich added strategic and business perspectives to his artistic practice. In his master’s thesis, «Nudging in Theatre», he explored new approaches to audience development. He believes that artistic ideas require imagination, sustainable structures and the ability to bring people together.
As an actor, Weishaupt develops his characters from the given circumstances – through close observation and an exploration of their often contradictory motivations. His screen work includes collaborations with Carlo Beer, Giorgio Diritti and Lauren Wolkstein. Working in Sursilvan, Swiss German, German, French, Italian and English, he moves between different cinematic and cultural contexts.
Through WORDS&BLOOMS, Roman Weishaupt supports private clients in developing texts, speeches and personal appearances and contributes his artistic and organisational experience to selected events.
He combines his roots in the mountains with an international outlook. Across film, theatre and interdisciplinary formats, his work brings together physical presence, precise language and complex human stories.
«I look for spaces where people can meet with real attention, across linguistic and cultural boundaries.»
