Christmas-season fairytales were the highlight of the theatre year, and children were brought in from the outlying areas to enjoy the magical plays. A children’s dance troupe trained at the theatre. Children performed the roles of fairies and animals in the Christmas plays, and children in the audience would recognize their friends on stage. The child performers knew the adult actors, and would repeat around town what they had heard in the dressing rooms. Authors whose works appeared alongside those of master storyteller Zacharias Topelius included Uncle Axel, Markus Rautio and Erkki Vuorela. One exceptionally gifted child performer was Leena Rintala, who performed authentic dances she had learned in Asia.