Presentation of the Moses Hahl play, "Israelin Mooses," by the Hibbing
Workers Club dramatic group in 1914. Players: Heikki Lahti, unknown,
Heikki Peterson, Matti Vuohela, Vick Tikkanen, John Nykänen, Matt Järvi,
Yrjö Heino, Armas Duro, unknown, Kusti Aho, Jussi Passoja.

It is difficult to imagine an economically successful theater if it rejects commercialism in favor of purely art theater concepts. Even in Finland the theater is supported financially by the state, municipalities, and private organizations, but in Finnish-American history the situation has been the exact opposite : the stage has been the source of income with which the work of organizations and societies has been made possible and with which their halls and clubhouses have been built. Not a few of the splendid Finnish halls in Minnesota have been built almost exclusively with the funds raised by amateur play productions. Where the theater producers of the world have tried to select plays they hoped would become box-office successes, which would fill their theaters evening after evening, the Finnish-American circles never dreamed of a play that would be put on night after night, for most often their `first night' audience was the only audience available.

In the earliest phases of this activity, the chief problem for the Finnish-American groups was the small number of Finnishlanguage dramas that was available. Most of them had to be ordered from Finland or perhaps be borrowed from other groups. Once the play was on hand there was still the major task of writing out the various roles, for often the play came in manuscript form; only a few were in print, and if they were, usually only one

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