Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in 1860 in the small port town of Taganrog, Russia. After his father’s bankruptcy prompted a move to Moscow, Chekhov enrolled in medical school. During his first years of study, Chekhov wrote short satiric character sketches for journals and magazines. As he turned his attention to short stories, non-fiction, and drama, humor remained a foundational element in his work.

Chekhov's one-act comedies The Marriage Proposal and The Bear (both 1888) were immediately successful. His first two full-length plays, Ivanov (1887) and The Wood Demon (1889), found Chekhov experimenting with the mix of comedy and disappointment that he would perfect in the plays widely considered his masterpieces: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1897), Three Sisters (1901), and The Cherry Orchard (1904). The premiere of The Seagull in 1896 was panned by audiences. Devastated, Chekhov refused performances of his work until Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko of the Moscow Art Theatre convinced him to let the theatre revive The Seagull in 1898.

All of Chekhov’s future plays received productions at the Moscow Art Theatre. Though his health started to deteriorate in 1897, Chekhov continued to write in multiple genres and participate actively in rehearsals. Uncle Vanya, which he had published in 1898, premiered in 1899, though Chekhov was too ill to attend. Three Sisters premiered in 1901, the same year he married Olga Knipper, an actress at the Moscow Art Theatre. The Cherry Orchard, his final work, premiered in 1904, and he died seven months later, at age 44.

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 1990 theater piece Brace Up! Schmidt supplied the translation as well as performing Chebutykin in the initial production. Schmidt went on to translate all of Chekhov’s work for the theatre, looking for a language that actors would find playable and audience would relate to.

“Over and over,” Schmidt wrote, “we see Chekhov reducing action and dialogue to their simplest terms, to ensure his audiences’ identification with their own lives. He wanted the people onstage to be recognizably normal for the audience and to speak a language that the audience understood was theirs.

Jackson Gay makes her Studio debut with Three Sisters. Ms. Gay is a founding member of New Neighborhood and the Director of Artistic Programming for Fuller Road Artist Residency. Her upcoming projects include Lisa Lampanelli's Stuffed (off-Broadway commercial run 2017); Mat Smart's Kill Local (La Jolla Playhouse 2017); Transfers by Lucy Thurber (MCC 2018); and the world premiere of Suzanne Vega's Lover, Beloved, An Evening with Carson McCullers with music by Vega and Duncan Sheik (Alley Theatre 2018). Recent projects include Lucy Thurber's Transfers at New York Stage & Film; Much Ado About Nothing adapted with Kenneth Lin at Cal Shakes; Jen Silverman's The Moors at Yale Rep; These Paper Bullets!, Rolin Jones' adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing with music by Billie Joe Armstrong, at the Atlantic Theater, Geffen Playhouse, and Yale Rep; Lucy Thurber's The Insurgents at Labyrinth; David Adjmi's 3C at Rattlestick; and Rolin Jones' The Jammer at Atlantic Theater Company; and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Atlantic Theater Company and Yale Repertory Theatre. Ms. Gay has taught directing and acting at Columbia, Yale, ESPA, Sarah Lawrence, and Fordham. She holds her BFA from University of the Arts and MFA from Yale School of Drama.

(As of March 2017)

New Neighborhood is a theater/TV/music company whose sincerity and authenticity are so combustible they cannot be housed under one roof for too long without doing severe structural damage. With new work, bruised work, all-singing, all-dancing, foul-mouthed musical work, New Neighborhood finds a show, produces the sh*t outta it, and disappears into a cloud of train smoke. Recent projects include the world premiere of Suzanne Heathcote’s I Saw My Neighbor on the Train and I Didn’t Even Smile (co-produced with Berkshire Theatre Group), the west coast and New York premieres of Rolin Jones’s These Paper Bullets! (produced in association with Geffen Playhouse and Atlantic Theater Company), Season One of Fox Television’s “The Exorcist” (produced in association with Morgan Creek Productions and 20th Century Fox Television), and the debut album of Honus Honus, Use Your Delusion.

(As of February 2017)

Ryan Rilette makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters. He has acted and directed at theaters throughout the country, and has been featured in a handful of television shows and films. Mr. Rilette has been the Artistic Director of Round House Theater since 2012, and was previously the Producing Director of Marin Theatre Company in the Bay Area, Producing Artistic Director of Southern Rep in New Orleans, Founding Artistic Director of Rude Mechanicals in New York, President of the National New Play Network, and a professor at Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University.

(As of March 2017)

Bridget Flanery is an Los Angeles-based actor making her Studio debut in Three Sisters. Partial Los Angeles credits include The Road to Appomattox at The Colony Theatre, Onion Creek  at the Son of Semele Theatre, The Psychic at The Falcon Theatre, The Taming of the Shrew at The Odyssey Theatre, The Rainmaker at A Noise Within, Twelfth Night at Los Angeles Shakespeare Center, Loves & Hours (directed by Jack O’Brien) at The Old Globe, and Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare Santa Monica. New York credits include Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine at Manhattan Theatre Club, Chekhov’s Rifle at Christopher Street Theatre, The Play About Rosemary’s Baby at Soho Repertory Theatre, and Spring Awakening at Prospect Theatre Company. Television and film credits include Hart of Dixie, Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives, Will & Grace, Out of Practice, Without a Trace, All My Children, General Hospital, Guiding Light, Babylon 5, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, 7th Heaven, Something Blue, and The Outsider. Ms. Flanery also teaches acting at The Relativity School in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

(As of March 2017)

Caroline Hewitt joins Studio for Three Sisters after most recently appeared on Broadway in The Front Page with Nathan Lane and John Slattery. She played Mary Lou in David Bowie's Lazarus in London and Off-Broadway in New York, where she also did Tamburlaine at Theater for a New Audience. Select regional credits include City of Conversation at Arena Stage, Warrior Class at The Alley Theatre, The Caucasian Chalk Circle at American Conservatory Theatre, Twelfth Night and The Rivals at Baltimore Centerstage, and Arcadia and The Winter's Tale at Chautauqua Theatre Company. Ms. Hewitt studied French at Vassar College and received her MFA in Acting from The American Conservatory Theater.

(As of March 2017)

Emilie Krause makes her Studio debut in Three Sisters. She is a Philadelphia-based actor, where she has performed with the Arden Theatre, the Wilma Theater, People's Light and Theatre, and many others. Recent work includes Radiant Vermin at Inis Nua Theatre Company, Funnyman at Arden Theatre Company, The Children's Hour at EgoPo Classic Theater, Circle Mirror Transformation at Theater Horizon, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Theatre Exile, which earned her a Barrymore Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Ms. Krause is a proud company member with the Obie Award-winning experimental theater company New Paradise Laboratories, and is a recipient of the 2017 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts.

(As of March 2017)

Kimberly Gilbert returns to Studio in Three Sisters / No Sisters after last appearing in Jumpers for Goalposts.  Most recent credits include Charm at Mosaic Theatre and Angels In America, Parts 1 and 2, a co-production of Round House and Olney Theatres. A DC artist since the year 2000, she has been gratefully playing on the stages of The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, Folger Theatre, Forum Theatre, Theater J, Source Theatre, Round House Theatre, and most frequently Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Taffety Punk Theatre Company, where she is a company member. Ms. Gilbert received a Helen Hayes Award in 2015 for her portrayal of the ill-fated queen in Woolly Mammoth’s production of Marie Antoinette. She holds her MFA with the inaugural class of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy For Classical Acting.

(As of March 2017)

Todd Scofield makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters. Over the past 14 years in DC, Mr. Scofield has appeared in numerous shows at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, and Round House Theatre, as well as productions at Theater J, Ford’s Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Olney Theatre. Regional credits include productions at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, Arden Theatre, PlayMakers Theatre, Charlotte Repertory Theatre, and four seasons at North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include a recurring role in seasons 3 and 5 of The Wire.

(As of March 2017)

Greg Stuhr makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters. He has appeared on Broadway in Larry David’s Fish In the Dark, David Mamet’s November, Elaine May’s Taller Than a Dwarf, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off Broadway, Mr. Stuhr performs regularly with the Atlantic Theatre Company, and regionally, he has worked at the Geffen Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf, and South Coast Rep in new works by Rolin Jones, Bruce Norris, and Keith Reddin. He stars in and co-wrote with director Jenna Ricker the critically acclaimed indie film The American Side. Along with other New Neighborhood members, Adam O'Byrne and Mr. Jones, Mr. Stuhr is co-creator of the comedy series Luba’s Lot for Fox Television Studios.

(As of March 2017)

Ro Boddie returns to Studio Theatre for the fourth time, where he previously appeared in Dirt, Three Sisters, and No Sisters. Off-Broadway credits include Socrates at The Public Theater, Appomattox at 59E59 Theaters, and the upcoming production of A Play is a Poem at Atlantic Theater Company. Select regional credits include A Play is a Poem at the Mark Taper Forum, Blueprints to Freedom at La Jolla Playhouse, Skeleton Crew at The Old Globe, The Mountaintop at Cleveland Playhouse, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Baltimore Center Stage, The Whipping Man at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Television credits include The Good Wife, Elementary, Person of Interest, and Unforgettable. Ro is an alumnus of University of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

(As of November 2019)

Biko Eisen-Martin makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters. Credits include Lift at Crossroads and Off-Broadway at the 59E59 Theatres; Fences at Pioneer Theatre Company; All The Way at Cleveland Playhouse; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at Folger Theatre; Stick Fly and Under The Skin at Arden Theatre Company; The Ashes Under Gait City at Contemporary American Theatre Festival; The Whipping Man at Syracuse Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Gulfshore Playhouse; Topdog/ Underdog at Marin Theatre Company; and Brother Size, Love’s Labours Lost, and Three Sisters at Chautauqua Theatre Company. Other credits include performances at Denver Center Theatre Company, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, People's Light, and Campo Santo. Mr. Eisen-Martin holds an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory and a BA and MAT from Brown University.

(As of March 2017)

Craig Wallace returns to Studio for Three Sisters / No Sisters after making his debut in Fucking A. Mr. Wallace has performed in numerous productions around the country. In the DC area, he has appeared at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Folger Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Round House Theatre. He holds a BFA from Howard University and an MFA from Penn State University.

(As of March 2017)

William Vaughan makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters. He has performed at regional theatres along the East Coast including A Tale Told by an Idiot produced by Psittacus Productions through Lincoln Center Education; District Merchants, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, and Romeo and Juliet (u/s) at Folger Theatre; Miss Bennet and Ironbound at Round House Theatre; The Flick and Tender Napalm (u/s) at Signature Theatre; Abominable at The Hub Theatre; Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale at We Happy Few; The Lost Colony at Waterside Theatre; and The Three Musketeers at Theatre Carolina. His film credits include Dreadful Sorry and Colonizing the New World.

(As of March 2017)

Josh Thomas makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters. He is a local actor/musician, originally from Mississippi. 

(As of March 2017)

Nick Torres makes his Studio debut in Three Sisters / No Sisters after understudying The Big Meal, Cock, Red Speedo, Sweet and Sad, Sorry, That Hopey Changey Thing, and Regular Singing at Studio Theatre. Other credits include Superior Donuts at Silver Spring Stage (Watch Award Nomination: Outstanding Lead Actor).   Mr. Torres was trained at The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.

(As of March 2017)

Nancy Robinette has been affiliated with Studio since the late 1970s, first as a student and then performing in The Woolgatherer, Camino Real, Tribes, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Play About the Baby, Three Sisters (1995-96), Ivanov, The Seagull, Afterplay, Frozen, Souvenir, Slavs!, The New Electric Ballroom, and Laughing Wild. Her recent work at Studio includes Three Sisters (2016-17) and The Hard Problem. Ms. Robinette most recently performed on Broadway in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She has also performed on most of the DC stages, and at the McCarter Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, The Globe Theatre, as well as in Key West and the former Yugoslavia. Film and television credits include Louie, Serial Mom, Soldier Jack, and the upcoming Three Christs. Ms. Robinette is a Woolly Mammoth Theatre Alumna and an Associated Artist with Shakespeare Theatre Company.

(As of March 2017)

Daven Ralston makes her Studio debut. Select regional credits include As You Like It at Folger Theatre; The Magi at Hub Theatre; A Bid to Save the World at Rorschach Theatre; Wild Sky at Solas Nua (company member); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Friendship Betrayed, and The Madwoman of Chaillot at WSC Avant Bard; and Space Bop and Snow Day at Arts on the Horizon. Independent film credits include Macbeth Unhinged (EIFF, NYCIFF Selection) and Kara (DCIFF/Best of DC Award).

(As of March 2017)