Without compromising the spirit of the text, Paul Schmidt accurately translates Chekhov's entire theatrical canon, rescuing the humor -lost' in most academic translations while respecting the historical context and original social climate.aThese critically hailed translations of The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and other Chekhov plays are the only ones in English by a Russian-language scholar who is also a veteran Chekhovian actor.aSchmidt's translations of Chekhov have been successfully staged all over the United States by such theatrical directors as Lee Strasberg, Elizabeth Swados, Peter Sellas, and Robert Wilson. Critics have hailed these translations as making Chekhov fully accessible to American audiences. They are also accurate-Schmidt has been described as -the gold standard in Russian-English translation' by Michael Holquist of the Russian Department at Yale University.