Residency Programme
Unga Dramaten is part of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and exists to create performing art for children and young people between the ages of 3–16. We strive to make brave, innovative and generous art that puts children at the forefront of the experience. We believe that high quality performing art is important at all stages of life and aim to present newly written works to our audiences.
Unga Dramaten wants to act as a greenhouse for emerging artists, but also to make room for experienced artists to further develop their artistry. We aim for this Residency to act as a platform where new meetings, exchanges and artistic exploration can take place.
The Writing Residency for young audiences launched in 2023 and is aimed at professionals working within the performing arts or academia who want to explore an idea, question or theme for children and young people aged 3–16 years old.
What we offer
- A 4-week long residency at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm
- Access to an apartment during the entire period (international residency only)
- Up to 10 000 SEK in travel expenses, only including transportation
- An introduction to the theatre and our ways of working
- An office space, to be shared with the other participant
- Meetings with a dramaturg from the theatre, 1-2 times/week
- A reading with actors from the theatre
Residency Participants 2025
Juliet Atto, Sweden/Uganda
I’m a Swedish-Ugandan writer and journalist based in Stockholm. For this residency I’ve been developing a play for young audiences from age 7. The play centers a socially awkward 9 and a half year old girl, who realizes that she’s in love for the first time – with the wrong person. After doing the most embarrassing thing she’s ever done, she gets taken to the deepest part of herself by her two most intense inner voices. She is forced to confront her conflicting feelings, her actions and society’s norms. The play explores themes of love, shame, lesbian/queer identity and self-acceptance.
Liam Rees, Scottland/Ireland
I'm a Scottish/Irish theatre maker and I will develop a new play called Tank Life at Unga Dramaten. Tank Life is all about a recently bereaved teenager who struggles to communicate with his local community but he connects with an octopus at his local aquarium. However, the octopus continuously tries to escape from its tank and gets depressed in captivity but can't communicate that through words. Inspired by science fiction films like Arrival and ET, it's all about (mis)communication, deep feelings, and attempting to understand the Other in the context of an increasingly xenophobic small town.
Hanna Rosén, Sweden
During my residency at Unga Dramaten, I developed a play about two best friends who buy matching necklaces that turn out to be cursed. When one of the girls begins to drift away from the friendship, the curse is unleashed, and none other than Bloody Mary comes to claim her. Through horror and comedy, I want to explore the possessiveness and fear of change that can emerge within close friendships.
Previous Participants
Theodor Österberg, Sweden
My name is Theodor Österberg and I am a screenwriter working in film and TV. Recently, I wrote the satire series At Arm’s Length (På armlängds avstånd, SVT). During my stay at Unga Dramaten, I’m developing a play for children — an absurd fairy tale about trees turning into humans, and humans dreaming of becoming trees. A reverse Pinocchio about trees in human bodies and vice versa, with deadpan comedy and ecological themes. I'm looking forward to exploring the relationship between trees and humans together with Unga Dramaten.
Johannes Hoffman, Austria
As a part of this residency I will be working on a play for a young audience aged 14 and over. Kim and Mika are best friends and spend most of their time together on the tennis court, perfecting their aesthetic tennis game. Life on this artificial pitch is disciplined, morally impeccable, classy and chic. One day, Mika discovers a hole in the plastic lawn, from which it rots, grows and moulds. In this play, an affluent society that stubbornly clings to a narrative of progress is juxtaposed with an invasive, sprawling, proliferating fungal mycelium, a highly symbiotic and cooperative life form. They offer insights into how a collaborative form of survival in the ‘ruins of capitalism’ (Anna Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World, Berlin, 2018) might be possible.
Mille Bostedt, Sweden
"My name is Mille Bostedt and for the next three weeks I have a writing residency at Unga Dramaten. I'm writing a play for middle school and want to use the realistic sci-fi genre to explore the theme of transformation. The play is about two thirteen-year-olds who hack evolution and succeed in creating a transhuman luminescent bird, through which they change the view of humanity forever. The play revolts against the limitations that humanity has created for itself and opens up the dream of becoming something else. A longing that grows out of the characters' anger at the world that previous generations have created and from an inner feeling of not fitting into their own body or the conventions expected of that body."
Alex Gorghe, Romania
”My name is Alex Gorghe, I am a Romanian playwright and in this residency I am working on a text about a group of young people who believe that the state of the world we live in is so bad that there is no hope in sight. They try to accelerate the end of the world by committing acts of terror.”