THE CHERRY ORCHARD

By Anton Chekhov

Translation by Paul Schmidt

Madame Ranevskaya, who has spent five years in Paris to escape grief over her young son’s death, returns to her home in Russia ridden with debt. She is obliged to decide how to dispose of her family’s estate, with its beautiful and famous cherry orchard. The coarse but wealthy merchant Ermolai Lopakhin suggests that Mme Ranevskaya develop the land on which the orchard sits. Eventually Lopakhin purchases the estate and proceeds with his plans for a housing development. As the unhappy Ranevskayas leave the estate, the sound of saws can be heard in the orchard.

Production Notes:

More information about THE CHERRY ORCHARD is coming soon.

Check out this great Studio Theatre article on Paul Schmidt's masterful adaptations of Chekov HERE.

Adaptor

Paul Schmidt Actor, librettist, poet, translator, professor, and Russian scholar Paul Schmidt’s translation of Chekhov’s work have been praised as “the gold standard in Russian-English translation.”

Throughout his career, Schmidt worked in both the academy and professional theatre, translating the complete works of poets Arthur Rimbaud and Velemir Khlebnikov as well as translating works by Gogol, Brecht, and Marivaux for production. He worked extensively with American avant-garde directors, including Peter Sellars, JoAnne Akalaitis, Elizabeth LeCompte, and Robert Wilson. With Wilson and Tom Waits, he write the libretto for an opera adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

He did his first work with Chekhov with LeCompte, when she asked him to translate Three Sisters for the Wooster Group's... [FULL BIO]