Early years and education

Farnaz Arbabi was born in Teheran, Iran.^[1] Her family moved to Sweden when she was two years old,^[2] and she grew up in Husby, Stockholm.^[1] After their arrival her parents worked as native tongue language teachers.^[3] No one in her immediate surroundings worked in creative professions, but when she was eight years old her father entered her in the after school-activities at Kulturskolan, Husby. She joined a youth theatre troupe with a high school friend and soon discovered an affinity for directing, rather than acting.^[4] At 19 she wrote the script for and directed her first play Nu känns det lite bättre ("It feels a bit better now"). During her youth she would frequently go to shows at Unga Klara, and would later credit the theatre with some of here best experiences as an audience member.^[4]

In 2001 she served as an assistant to director Birgitta Englin for the performance of Elektra at Uppsala Stadsteater.^[3] During 2002 she directed "teatergruppen STHLM" in Gbg01, about youths participating in the Gothenburg riots, at Teater Tribunalen in Stockholm.^[5] The play, which was based on interviews with actual participants, also showed at Stockholms stadsteater.^[6] With the support of Save the Children Swedish she published Överlevnadshandbok för flickor om frihet och heder, a survival guide and orientation for girls subjugated by family honor, published following the murders of Pela Atroshi and Fadime Şahindal.^[3] In 2003 she received a journalism scholarship from Mentor Sweden presented by Queen Silvia of Sweden. Under the scholarship she conducted interviews with former criminals and delinquents, who had recovered with the help of a mentor, gathering material for a play.^[7] She has pursued theatre and film studies at Stockholm University.^[1] She has also studied creative writing, journalism and pedagogy.^[2] At 27 years old and already an established director she applied to the Swedish Institute of Dramatic Art for a third time, successfully,^[8] eventually graduating as a director in 2008.^[1]

Breakthrough, Unga Klara and the big stage

She rose to prominence in 2006 after directing Utvandrarna ("The Emigrants") for Riksteatern and Jonas Hassan Khemiri's Invasion at Stockholms stadsteater.^[4][9] The former was a re-imagining of the classic Swedish emigration story, instead it related the story of bosnian-, persian- and russian-speaking immigrants to Sweden.^[10] Thus juxtapositioning Swedens historical status as an emigrant nation with its current role as a goal for immigrants.^[11] The latter was regarded as a breakthrough for both Arbabi as a director^{[lower-alpha 1]} and for Khemiri as a playwright, as well as one of the most important performances in modern Swedish theatre.^[13] In a retrospective of the last 150 years of Swedish creative work by Dagens Nyheter it was credited with "luring a new generation to the theatres".^[14] It would be the first of several collaborations between Arbabi and Khemiri.^[15]

In 2014, as Suzanne Osten stepped down, Arbabi and Gustav Deinoff shouldered the responsibilities as creative directors of Unga Klara. The pair published a manifesto upon taking their positions, promising to abide by the principles of "norm critique, feminism, anti-racism, pluralism and equality".^[16] Unga Klara was bestowed status as Nationalscen ("National scene") for children and youth theatre in 2018.^[1]

Arbabi revived Angels in America for the 2018 Dramaten season. She initially cast Rickard Wolff as Roy Cohn, but as Wolff's health was failing he was replaced by Staffan Göthe, and Wolff passed away as repetitions were held.^[17] In För att jag säger det ("Because i Say So") she explored the power dynamics of the parent-child relationship.^[18] The play was given at various venues in Sweden and internationally.^[19] Johannes Anyuru's August Prize-winning novel They Will Drown in Their Mothers' Tears was rewritten for the stage by Arbabi. The dystopian alternate reality story dealing with racism and terrorism was given at Unga Klara in 2020.^[20][21] In 2022 she directed the senior year students at Malmö Theatre Academy in Brinn, which she had co-written with Elmira Arikan. The play relates the story of two troubled teens and how their group home burned down, inspired by interviews with youngsters staying at such facilities, staff and official records. The ensemble cast takes turns playing the protagonists.^[22][23] The play opened at Unga Klara in the fall.^[23] In late 2022 she directed the Swedish theatre play-version of Don Giovanni at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.^[4] In the spring of 2023 she directed Cabaret at Dramaten, with funk-rock group Damn! as the acting house band.^[24]

After being sold out for the year, Brinn was renewed for a third season in the spring of 2023.^[25] She is directing the musical 9 to 5 for the 2023 fall season at Uppsala Stadsteater.^[26]

Family

She married actor, director and playwright Jens Ohlin in 2009. They have three children together.^[4]

Works cited

• Brinch, Rebecca; Gindt, Dirk (2022). "All teater har en samhällsrevolutionerande potential". In Brinch R, Gindt D, Rosenberg T (ed.). Berätta, överleva, inte drunkna: antirasism, dekolonisering och migration i svensk teater (in Swedish). Stockholm: Atlas. pp. 337–351. ISBN 9789174450255.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Gammel, Moa (2015). "Farnaz Arbabi". Genier: samtal om konsten att äga sitt eget liv (in Swedish). Stockholm: Natur & Kultur. pp. 84–93. ISBN 9789127144866.
• Lindqvist, Ursula (1 December 2008). "Staging Migration and Post-National Identities Swedish-Iranian Feminist Playwright and Director Farnaz Arbabi Visits UCLA" (PDF). UCLA. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
• Rosenberg, Tiina (2018). HBTQ spelar roll: mellan garderob och kanon (in Swedish). Stockholm: Leopard förlag. ISBN 9789173437745.