The Rávgoš Sámi Theatre was established in the beginning of 1980s and was officially registered as an association in 1987. (Rávgoš is a bird called ‘ruff’ in English.) First the theatre operated in the village of Vuovdaguoika (Outakoski in Finnish) on the Finnish side of Deatnu (Tana/Teno) Valley and the first director was Eino Guttorm, a local Sámi writer (and Kirste’s uncle) who wrote and directed most of the early plays.
However, in 1994 The Rávgoš Theatre had got into difficulties and a new director was required. Kirste Paltto took the helm and she was in charge between 1994 and 2001 and again in 2003. In 2002, Sámi actress Irene Länsman served as the chair of the board.
Kirste Paltto tells about her work with Rávgoš:
The beginning of the so-called new Rávgoš wasn’t easy due to its economic difficulties. I was able, however, arrange funding to an extent that we were able to establish a new board who immediately started planning its first play. The play I wrote and directed was called “That Love” and it premiered at the end of 1994. We practiced at the Vuovdaguoika school where the premier was also held. In the following years, Rávgoš mostly practiced and held its premiers in its birth place Vuovdaguoika but almost all plays toured in Samiland. The Swedish Sámi Theatre was able to finance our tour in Swedish Sápmi.
From 1994 to 2003 Rávgoš produced six plays, held a couple of theatre workshops and also sent its members to other theatre courses. Out of those six plays, I wrote five and directed three. For every production we had to hire actors, directors, costume and set designers anew. Moreover, because Rávgoš had to operate on an “amateur” basis due to extremely limited funding, it was difficult to find and hire people on short term. In most cases, those who were able to get involved were local young and unemployed people which meant that Rávgoš played a role in employing people locally, however temporarily.
Since 1997 we worked hard to make Rávgoš into a professional Sámi theatre. We made a trip to Helsinki to meet with the Minister of Education (and Culture) to explain the need for a Sámi theatre in Finland and to appeal for funding. We also wrote letters to the Ohcejohka (Utsjoki) municipality (where Rávgoš operated) and asked for then closed Vuovdaguoika school as the permanent location for Rávgoš. We didn’t even get a response from the municipality.
We applied for funding from the European Union. We even wrote a letter to the President of Finland Tarja Halonen. The President’s Office replied that the state is willing to finance the theatre if half of the funding comes from other sources. Together with Sámi actor Sverre Porsanger, who at the time served as the Artist of the Lapland Province, we then wrote a letter to the Ohcejohka municipality and explained why a professional Sámi theatre is needed and why it should be established in Ohcejohka – one of the reasons being the creation of jobs. But our endeavours did not bear fruit – the municipality seemed only interested in projects attracting tourists.
When we did not succeed to get funding for the establishment of a professional Sámi theatre nor to get a permanent location for Rávgoš, the board concluded that it was impossible to continue the work with the extremely limited resources that we had. Thus, the Rávgoš Theatre was put on hold at the end of 2003.
