1

Three Sisters
By Anton Chekhov
(Translation by Sarah Ruhl)

Dramaturgical Packet
Webster Conservatory Production 2018
(Written and Curated by Erin M. Fischer, and Kylie Hill)

Table of Contents
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3-8 Glossary
9-10 A Personal Look at Chekhov
11-12 Sioux Wars
13-14 Women’s Educational Standard in the 19th Century
15-16 The Value of the Wet Nurse
17-
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Three Sisters

Term Page # Definition Source

Olga Character Russian form of Helga https://www.behindthename.com/nam

List meaning “holy” or “blessed” e/olga

Masha Character Russian form of Maria https://www.behindthename.com/nam

List meaning “beloved” or e/masha
“love”

Irina Character Peace https://www.behindthename.com/nam

List e/irina

Andrei Character “Manly” or “masculine” https://www.behindthename.com/nam

List e/andrei

Natasha Character “Christmas Day;” Also the https://www.behindthename.com/nam

List name of a character in War e/natasha
and Peace by Tolstoy, who
was Chekhov’s
contemporary

Birch Trees 14 any tree or shrub of https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bi

the genus Betula, rch?s=t
comprising species
with a smooth,
laminated outer bark and
close-grained wood

Moscow 14 The capital of Russia https://www.dictionary.com/browse/m

oscow?s=t
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Colonel 15 an officer in the U.S. Army, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/co

Air Force, or Marine Corps lonel?s=t
ranking between lieutenant
colonel and brigadier
general: corresponding to a
captain in the U.S. Navy

Stoic 16 one apparently or https://www.merriam-

professedly indifferent to webster.com/dictionary/stoic
pleasure or pain

Petersburg 17 St. Petersburg; city of https://www.merriam-

western Russia in Europe webster.com/dictionary/Saint%20Pet
at the east end of the Gulf ersburg
of Finland that was the
capital of the Russian
Empire; also known as
Leningrad

Melancholy 19 depression of spirits https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/melancholy

Samovar 20 an urn with a spigot at its https://www.merriam-

base used especially in webster.com/dictionary/samovar
Russia to boil water for tea

Slavic 22 of or relating to the Slavs

(the people of central and https://www.merriam-
eastern Europe) or their webster.com/dictionary/Slavic
languages
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Columbus 23 Christopher Clombus; https://www.merriam-

Spanish exploring famous webster.com/dictionary/Columbus
for discovering North
America

Copernicus 23 Nicolaus Copernicus; https://www.merriam-

Polish Astromer who webster.com/dictionary/Copernicus
formulated a model of the
universe with the sun at the
center

Baron 24 one of a class of tenants https://www.merriam-

holding his rights and title webster.com/dictionary/baron
by military or other
honorable service directly
from a feudal superior
(such as a king)

Battery 25 A commanding officer in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comman

commander artillery of cavalry ding_officer

Renaissanc 25 a person who has wide https://www.merriam-

e Man interests and is expert in webster.com/dictionary/Renaissance
several areas %20man

Russian 27 Relating to the Eastern https://www.merriam-

Orthodox Orthodox Church of Russia webster.com/dictionary/Russian%20
headed by the Patriarch of Orthodox
Moscow

Feci quod 28 Latin; I did what I could, https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&t

potui, may those who are able do ok=Eb9Xg0boJfIOdrj60Wd44w&pq=d
faciant better efine+Battery+commander&xhr=t&u
meliora m=1&ie=UTF-8&client=tw-
potentes ob#la/en/Feci%20quod%20potui%2C
%20faciant%20meliora%20potentes
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Mens sana 28 Latin; A sound mind in a https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&t

in corpore sound body ok=Eb9Xg0boJfIOdrj60Wd44w&pq=d
sano efine+Battery+commander&xhr=t&u
m=1&ie=UTF-8&client=tw-
ob#la/en/Mens%20sana%20in%20co
rpore%20sano

blotto 29 Drunk https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/blotto

telegraph 35 an apparatus, system, or https://www.merriam-

process for communication webster.com/dictionary/telegraph
at a distance by electric
transmission over wire

Blintzes 37 a thin usually wheat-flour https://www.merriam-

pancake folded to form a webster.com/dictionary/blintzes
casing (as for cheese or
fruit) and then sautéed or
baked

Roubles 41 the basic monetary unit of https://www.merriam-

Russia webster.com/dictionary/roubles

Venez ici 42 French; come here https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
ob#auto/en/venez%20ici

Gogol 44 Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol; https://www.merriam-

Russian writer webster.com/dictionary/Gogol

Balzac 44 Honoré de Balzac; French https://www.merriam-

novelist webster.com/dictionary/Balzac
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Je vous 47 Fench; Please, forgive me, https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

prie, Marie, but you have some e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
pardonnez rough ways ob#fr/en/Je%20vous%20prie%2C%2
moi, Marie, 0pardonnez%20moi%2C%20Marie%
mais vous 2C%20mais%20vous%20avez%20de
avez des s%20manieres%20un%20peu%20gr
manieres ossieres
un peu
grossieres

Il parait que 48 French; It seems that my https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

mon Bobik Bobik already does not e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
deja ne dort sleep ob#fr/en/Il%20parait%20que%20mon
pas %20Bobik%20deja%20ne%20dort%2
0pas

Lermontov 49 Mikhail Yuryevich; Russian https://www.merriam-

poet and novelist webster.com/dictionary/Lermontov

Caucasus 49 region of southeastern https://www.merriam-

Europe (Georgia, webster.com/dictionary/Caucasus
Azerbaijan, Armenia, and
part of southern Russia in
Europe) between the Black
and Caspian seas

O fallacem 55 Latin; Oh, lies the hope! https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

hominum e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
spem! ob#la/en/O%20fallacem%20hominum
%20spem!

Shakespear 61 William; English dramatist https://www.merriam-

e and poet webster.com/dictionary/Shakespeare
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Voltaire 61 François-Marie Arouet; https://www.merriam-

French writer webster.com/dictionary/Voltaire

In vino 62 Latin; In wine there is truth https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

verita e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
ob#la/en/In%20vino%20veritas

Omnia mea 67 Latin; All that is mine I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnia_

mecum carry with me mea_mecum_porto
porto

Veranda 75 a usually roofed open https://www.merriam-

gallery or portico attached webster.com/dictionary/veranda
to the exterior of a building

Modus 77 Latin; Way of life https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

vivendi e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
ob#la/en/Modus%20vivendi

Ut 79 Latin; directly translated as https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

consecutivu “to consecutives” but more
m commonly translated as “a
means of living; a
temporary compromise”
e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
ob#la/en/Ut%20consecutivum
http://threesistersbsu.weebly.com/glo
ssary.html

Order of 79 A Russian order of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of

Stanislav knighthood commonly _Saint_Stanislaus_(House_of_Roma
awarded for milirar and civil nov)
merits

Red Square 81 open square in Moscow, https://www.merriam-

Russia; also the site of the webster.com/dictionary/Red%20Squa
Kremlin, which houses re
Russia’s government
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Il ne faut 88 French; https://translate.google.com/?um=1&i

pas faire du 76/5000 e=UTF-8&hl=en&client=tw-
bruit, la Do not make noise, Sofie is ob#auto/en/Il%20ne%20faut%20pas
Sofie est already sleeping. You are a %20faire%20du%20bruit%2C%20la
dormie bear. %20Sofie%20est%20dormie%20deja
deja. Vous .%20Vous%20etes%20un%20ours.
etes un
ours.

A Personal Look at Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born late January, 1860, in Taganrog Russia, to
Yevgeniya and Pavel Chekhov. Pavel worked as a grocer, but frequently struggled with money
while he ran his business. Yevgeniya, having six children and little money, occupied her children
with stories. Anton and Yevgeniya shared a deep love and inherent interest in storytelling, which
pressed him to focus immensely on literature in his schooling.
In 1875, Pavel’s grocery had failed, leaving Anton behind to finish his studies, the family
moved into Moscow to look for work. Four years later, Chekhov reunited with his family.
Though Pavel had found work, it was not enough to support Yevgeniya and their children.
Chekhov felt an obligation to better his large family’s circumstances, and decided to enroll in
medical school. While he studied, he wrote short stories to earn a little money from magazines,
this is where we find the bulk of Chekhov’s work, as he published hundreds of stories in this
format during his medical studies.
It was only after Chekhov had finished his medical degree and developed a practice that
he stopped publishing under a pseudonym. This is when he saw the fruits of his talent, and
earned his first award the Pushkin Prize for his short story “the Steppe,”
A whirlwind of notable works follow this award from 1887 to his death in 1904.
Three Sisters was, like many of Chekhov’s works, written on commission. Though his
inspiration came from a slightly unusual place. While on holiday with his younger brother, who
at the time was tutoring three young girls. They charmed Chekhov so much that e began to write
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of his imaginings of the girl’s growing up into Russian society. The Moscow Art Theater (MAT)
had requested his involvement in their fourth running season, given that not long before this
Chekhov had become infatuated with MAT’s resident leading lady, Olga Knipper, he obliged
with a special role written just for her. Masha, the middle sister. Critics acclaimed Knipper’s
portrayal of Masha as “the most original and talented of the three sisters. To portray a young
woman of culture and refinement, who speaks French, German and English, and is a first-class
pianist”
Kipper and Chekhov married in 1901, but their romance ended very quickly as Chekhov
died of tuberculosis in 1904.
Three Sisters is touted frequently as a prime example of “Chekhovian boredom,” which is
to say on the surface; little seems to happen. Although according to Webster University’s Dr.
Susanna Weygandt, resident Chekhov expert, describes it as “less of that ‘nothing happens,’ and
more of everything happens in the peripheral.” In her class titled ‘Chekhov and Gender’ she
subscribes to the theory that there are essentially four basic tenants of Chekhovian literature:
minimizing the maximum, maximizing the minimum, the maximal versus the minimal, and the
events withheld. That is to basically say that Chekhov criticized what he felt was a common way
of thinking; ignoring larger problems and enlarging smaller problems, and that a story can be
told in that juxtaposition, and how the characters react.
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The Sioux Wars (1848-1891)

As implied, the Sioux Wars were not one, but a series of conflicts between the United
States government and many subgroups of Sioux Nation Native peoples.
Conflicts began in the late 1840’s upon the Californian gold rush, when US citizens were
frequently crossing through Sioux territory in the plaines to reach the west coast. US citizens
destroyed parcels of land, stole from Sioux villages, hunted without permit, and spread disease in
different villages. These particular conflicts, however, were solved rather quickly. A meeting
between Sioux chiefs and US officials at Fort Laramie in 1851, resulted in a treaty. This treaty
both defined Sioux boarders and allowed travelers to pass through under guidance from US
military bases as long as the US government paid an annuity to the Sioux people.
The treaty seemed to be beneficial until around 1854. A simple theft charge was grossly
mishandled by drunken US soldiers that resulted in the deaths of four Sioux peoples including
the Chieftain of their tribe. In response, the village killed all 31 soldiers stationed at Fort
Laramie. In 1855 the US retaliated on a peaceful Sioux village resulting in the deaths of 86
villagers and 27 US soldier casualties. For almost a decade after, peace was maintained under
some tension until the civil war.
The US government failed to honor the annuity payments to namely the Dakota Sioux,
which sparked an attack killing nearly 800 US soldiers. This conflict lasted for around two years,
during which the US captured many more, but hung 38 Sioux in what is still known as the largest
US government’s mass execution. Soon after this, the US expelled the Dakota Sioux people from
their Minnesota territories, putting them in encampments under revolting conditions until Sioux
from remaining territories negotiated for their freedom. The Lakota Sioux seeing their population
diminish were forced into a treaty by the US in which they relinquished their hunting rights in
Colorado. This sparked low level guerrilla warfare from the Sioux, soldiers who were called “the
dog warriors,” unleashed attacks on US settlements. The US response was to massacre not only
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innocent camps near US bases, but also any remaining Sioux in established internment camps.
Smaller battles continued up until the late 1880’s, when prophet Wovoka predicted that a special
ceremonious dance would revive the spirits of their fallen soldiers and give the Sioux, Arapaho,
and Cheyenne, nations the strength they needed to take their homes back from the US. Nearby
US soldiers however took this as an act of war against the US and proceeded to massacre over
300 peaceful people, even hunting down members of the movement and brutally killing them.
Medals were given out by the US government for this “act of heroism,” which in 1975 resulted
in shootouts and casualties between US and native soldiers.
The medals have not been rescinded by the US, and thus far no plans have been made to do so.
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Women’s Educational Standard in the late 19th

century
While many middle and upper-class women were considered ‘educated’ in the early 19th
century, their education largely focused on their roles as mothers and wives.
“Whereas boys needed education as career training, the primary goal for early nineteenth-
century parents send their daughters to female seminaries or academies was, as for someone like
Jefferson, that education prepare young women for roles as wives and mothers.”
However, the women who attended these institutions would eventually go on to create spaces
for themselves that were more similar to men’s colleges.
“Before the Civil War, women’s higher education meant high-school level educations at
one of hundreds of women’s-only seminaries established before 1860. Tutored primarily at
home, Emma Hart Willard became a teacher at age 15, and, even after her marriage, ran a
boarding school in her home…. Mary Lyon, a student at Troy(Willard’s school) established
Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts in 1837, which, in turn, became the model for other schools
and for an expanded curriculum for women.”
These new schools would go on to improve education for women (and women’s rights in
general) by the mid 19th century.
“Because of women’s expanded education, by 1840 female literacy in New England had
reached nearly 100 percent, compared to around 50 percent at the time of the American
Revolution.” In spite of this, women’s education was still inferior to men’s.
Oberlin College offered the first co-ed and interracial classed in 1833
“Although this was a new opportunity for white women and for African Americans, the college
maintained a separate curriculum for men and women. A “Female Department” employed
women teachers and administrators… to oversee a more literary, less rigorous, course of study
for early women students. Even after the program was expanded to provide equal undergraduate
educations for men and women, women were prevented from entering graduate and profession
study programs.
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Of course, this focuses more on the education of eastern women than western. In the frontier
women (and men) were often less educated.
“Territorial citizens were more likely to send daughters as well as sons to such schools,
which usually specialized in vocational, agricultural, and, for women, domestic science
programs, more so than liberal arts.”
“Like earlier reformers who emphasized that women’s education could and should assist
them in the fulfillment of family roles, professors of home economics, such as Lou Allen
Gregory at Illinois Industrial University, argued that college courses for women ‘must recognize
their distinctive duties as women—the mothers, housekeepers and health keepers of the world—
and furnish instruction which shall fit them to meet these duties’.”

The Value of the Wet Nurse

Wet nursing is the practice of a woman being employed to breastfeed a child that is not
her own. The origins of wet nursing are ancient. Records and accounts of the practice go back to
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the Egyptian empire pre Christian Era, and although it was an occupation well-regulated and
documented in some European countries such as France, it is much more commonly practiced as
a private employment matter between the family and the nurse.
Today, breastfeeding stirs up controversy. But before the invention of powdered formula,
other options weren’t available. Poor mothers sometimes fed their infants bread soaked in water,
or mashed solid foods. If you were a little better off, doctor recommended ratios of honey, water,
and cows milk, but those who could afford it employed a wet nurse. Even when formula went on
the market in 1867, it was expensive. And most parents felt more comfortable with wet nurses or
home made, doctor recommended, ratio methods- rather than the mysterious powdered formula.
The requirements of wet nurses were fairly simple, but went beyond being able to breastfeed.
The potential wet nurse underwent medical exams to determine if she was healthy enough to
breastfeed and wouldn’t pose any harm to the infant, and was required to also hold other
positions in the household such as the Head maid, or cook.
Infants form a special bond with the person who feeds them, so, provided the family
employing the wet nurse didn’t encounter scandal or financial ruin, generally wet nurses could
expect to be employed for a very, very long time. As the child grows, the wet nurse becomes the
nanny, then if she has access to any education possibly provided by the family, she could become
a tutor or a governess, and then possibly a full time cook or maid.
During this time the infant mortality rate was astronomical, particularly among poor and
lower class women, often leaving them childless but still lactating, this provided an honest career
and the chance to become a respectable working woman.
But contrary to popular belief, a woman doesn’t have to have a child of her own to be
able to breastfeed. Adoptive mothers have been able to breastfeed via the process of neural reflex
prolactin, which put simply, is the repetitive act of breast suckling or pumping to trigger lactation
by stimulating the lactation glands within the breast. This is how wet nurses could be employed
over multiple generations, though at a certain age the glands in the breasts lose functionality.
Frequently, the wet nurse became like a member of the family she served. She was usually the
highest paid of all the household staff, and often became the manager of other staff as well as the
confidant of the family.
This resulted in many households keeping a room for the wet nurse into her elderly years
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if she had no other family. Possibly reducing her salary but keeping her moreso as a part of the
family than an employee, akin to an aunt or grandmother.

The Bell At Red

Square(Tsar Bell)

The Tsar Bell on display in the Moscow

Kremlin Grounds is a gargantuan bell, 20 feet high and
22 feet in diameter. It is made entirely of heavy bronze
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weighing roughly 450,000 pounds, and has never made a sound. The Tsar
bell was commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna in 1733. That is, this
version of the Bell.
Bells in Russian culture as opposed to western ideas were more prominently
used to signal public events rather than religious ceremony. The orthodox russian bells
rang for public ceremonies, celebrations, and in some cases served as an alarm for fires or
other emergencies. Believed to have been started in the 16th century, then finished in
1600, the original Tsar Bell weighed around 40,000, a striking difference in comparison
to the current version at the Kremlin. 24 strongmen were needed to ring the original
iteration of the bell, before it was destroyed in a fire around 1650. While the next bell
was cast from a combination of remnants of the first and new bronze, it was decided to
enlarge this bell by over 5x. Tsar Bell II weighed in at over 220,000 pounds and was
proportionately enlarged in dimension. Not surprisingly, another fire weakened the
structure that housed the bell, sending it crashing down in 1701.
Empress Anna Ivanovna was not known for subtlety or reserve, her boistrus and
crude behavior became a trademark of her reign along with several construction of grand,
unusual, and pointless structures. When she commissioned the next iteration of the Tsar
bell, her specifications for the new bell were unprecedented, originally the Empress sent
for expert craftsmen in Paris, but they did not take the commision seriously, thinking it
was a ridiculous joke. Local craftsmen, however, took on the cause with gusto. To cast
the bell a 33 foot pit was dug, and a clay mould was fitted to the pit using rammed earth,
a combination of gravel, lime, and chalk. The first attempt failed, and the second attempt
took another year to complete. Finishing the base structure our final version of the Tsar
bell in November, 1737.
Fate however, is a cruel mistress. Another major fire set ablaze the Kremlin in
May 1737, before all of the ornamentation was completed for the bell. A wooden support
structure was set ablaze and fearing damage to the bell, soldiers threw cold water onto the
bell itself, causing cracks, and a huge slab (roughly 10 tons) of the bell to break off. Just
the broken slab is nearly three times the size of the world’s largest hanging bell.
The damaged Tsar Bell fell back into its pit, later during the occupation of the
French, Napoleon wanted to move the remains of the bell to France as a trophy of his
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success but no one could move it. Not until 1836, nearly 100 years after the Tsar Bell’s
fall, could it be moved. French Architect Auguste de Montferrand was able to engineer a
method to lift the bell onto a pedestal.
Simulations of what the frequency of the bell (82 Hz) would sound like have been
performed but the bell itself has never been rung due to its massive size and the potential
damage an instrument capable of ringing it may do to the bell.
Below is a link to a simulation of what scholars and sound techs, and musicians
think the bell might sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj6iPtuSEUs