Alden Kirss says growing up across cultures is a strength

Ugala Theatre actor Alden Kirss says growing up between Estonia and Canada has become a strength, ERR reported in an interview on the programme “OP”.

Kirss was born in Toronto to an Estonian mother and an American father. He spent his childhood moving between the two countries, starting school in Estonia before attending school in Canada in the second, fifth and ninth grades.

He said the hardest part was repeatedly adjusting to a new environment. But growing up in two countries also had benefits: “I am bilingual and have experienced two different cultures. It has left a mark in some ways, but I think it is also a strength.”

Kirss became interested in theatre while living in Estonia and studying at Tartu Waldorf Gymnasium, where theatre is highly valued. He recalled joining a drama club led by Külli Aavakivi and taking part in Shakespeare plays and school productions. By the eighth grade, he felt he was “somehow at home and comfortable” there.

Kirss is now in his fifth season at Ugala Theatre. Among his current roles, he considers Bartley McCormick in “The Cripple of Inishmaan” and Lucas in the upcoming production “The Fifth Step” especially important.

“The Fifth Step”, directed by Andres Noormets and due to premiere next week, is about friendship, fathers and sons, alcoholism, faith and love, Kirss said. He added that many people in Estonia have encountered alcoholism in their families or among friends, and described it as part of the country’s culture, saying that “white vodka was the main intoxicant” in the Soviet Union.