Farnaz Arbabi

[3] No one in her immediate surroundings worked in creative professions, but when she was eight years old her father entered her in the afterschool 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').

[4] In 2001, Arbabi served as an assistant to director Birgitta Englin for the performance of Elektra at Uppsala City Theatre [sv].

[11] The latter was regarded as a breakthrough for both Arbabi as a director[a] 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".

The pair published a manifesto upon taking their positions, promising to abide by the principles of "norm critique, feminism, anti-racism, pluralism and equality".

[20][21] In 2022, she directed the senior year students at Malmö Theatre Academy in Brinn, which she had co-written with Elmira Arikan.

[23] In late 2022, Arbabi directed the Swedish theatre play version of Don Giovanni at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.