As I often go to theater festivals in Europe, I was delighted to hear about the Schweizer Theatertreffen (Swiss Theater Encounter), a brand-new event being held in May. And since I'd already planned a trip that month to the Berlin Theater Festival, it was a no-brainer to check out this new Swiss kid on the block as well.

So it was that I turned up in the small city of Winterthur 30 km from Zurich to squeeze in five days' shows from the fledgling event's May 22-31 schedule.

There, Thomas Guglielmetti, the program director at Theater Winterthur, its sole venue, told me, "This city was selected because it is roughly equidistant between each of the country's four language regions, and because this theater doesn't have its own resident ensemble."