Makka Kleist

Makka Kleist in the performance Arnatsialaat (The Rez Sisters). Tomson Highway’s play was first performed in Greenlandic in 2016. It was a graduation performance for four student actors who performed alongside professionals including Kleist.
GERTH LYBERTH/NUNATTA ISIGINNAARTITSISARFIA, 2016

Actress and storyteller Makka Kleist (b. 1951) has been a driving force in the work to develop the Greenlandic theatre. Kleist grew up in Qullissat but was sent to Denmark to attend the 6th grade and finish school. As a newly qualified primary school teacher, Makka Kleist joined Tuukkaq Theatre in Denmark in 1978 and was one of the driving forces and worked as an actress, director and playwright until 1983. It became the beginning of a long career, and she has subsequently lived in e.g. Canada and Norway, worked as a stage actor, had film roles and also engaged in children’s theatre and has written and translated plays.

In 2003, Makka Kleist returned to Greenland, where she, among other things, has worked at the Silamiut Theatre and been active in the work to establish a national stage and a drama school in Greenland. When The National Theatre/Nunatta Isiginnaartitsisarfia opened in 2012, Makka Kleist became head of The National Acting School until 2018 when she returned to Denmark.

Further reading

Read more about Culture in Greenland

  • Susanne Andreasen

    (b. 1978) BA in Dramaturgy. Artistic Director for the National Theatre of Greenland.

  • Ruth Montgomery-Andersen

    (b. 1957) Doctor of Public Health, Midwife, Dancer, and Choreographer. Researcher and Project Manager for Greenland’s first dance educational program.

  • Arnajaraq Støvlebæk

    (b. 1976) BA from the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Self-employed.