easier to comprehend. The plays of Alexis Kivi were given repeatedly, and the works of Minna Canth were almost as popular. Indeed, one of her plays - The Hard-Luck Children might be a literal translation of its title - which had aroused a storm when first produced at the Finnish National Theater in Helsinki, raised such a storm when it was given by one dramatics group in Minnesota that the society which sponsored it was literally split into two as a consequence. The historical plays of Gustav von Numers and Eino Leino were given, and workers' groups did not neglect Hella Wuolijoki, while other authors who were heard include Kaarlo Halme, Maiju Lassila, Maria Jotuni, Linnankoski, Pekkanen, as well as the author of many hilarious farces, Agapetus.

Furthermore, when the workers' societies alone put on as many as 3,000 play performances per year (according to the estimates of F. J. Syrjälä) it was natural that this activity would also spark Finnish-Americans to writing plays of their own. Sulkanen has considered Moses Hahl, Lauri Lemberg, Felix Hyrske and Anna Stein to be the most significant of these domestic playwrights, although Lemberg himself would add the names of Hilma Johnson and Fanny Ojanpää to this list. Plays have also been written by Matti Kurikka, Eemeli Parras, Mikael Rutanen and Niilo Terho, while Kaarlo Nissinen, Toivo N. Nousio and John Puolakka were skillful adapters. According to Sulkanen, Hahl was the most original in his talents : fighting against prevailing conservative beliefs, he often made bourgeoisie morality and concepts the point of his attacks, which sometimes went too far. As for directors, the best-known in Minnesota, according to Lemberg, were Robert Anderson and Walter Laakso, both of Duluth, although the former worked everywhere in Minnesota and in many places in the neighboring states.

Compared to the many guest appearances which enriched local musical life so greatly, visiting actors have been far fewer in number. In the mid-1920s Elli Tompuri did tour extensively in the United States, including Minnesota. She had engaged several actors in New York to join Sandelin and Saloranta, who had come with her from Finland, and this group performed the romantic Elinan surma (The Slaying of Elina.) This tour, moreover, was not her only one, for she returned to present a program of readings of Finnish poetry in English translation, appearing chiefly at various colleges and universities; however, on this tour she also put in appearances at various Finnish centers in Minnesota. Her programs were made up chiefly of Eino Leino's poetry, but did include such numbers as Esko's soliloquy from Kivi's Nummi

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