People Who Make Theatre: Leigh Silverman

HB Studio welcomes acclaimed director Leigh Silverman for the return of People Who Make Theatre, HB’s longstanding series of public conversations with artists, makers, and cultural leaders whose work shapes theatre and the wider performing arts.

In conjunction with Silverman’s Premier Masterclass at HB Studio, this conversation offers audiences an opportunity to hear from one of today’s leading directors about the work behind the work: developing new plays and musicals, collaborating with writers and performers, building a life in the arts, and navigating the artistic choices that carry a project from its earliest stages to production.

Silverman joins Christopher Hibma, Interim Co-Executive Director of HB Studio, for a candid hour-long conversation about craft, collaboration, artistic leadership, and a career spanning Broadway, Off-Broadway, and more than 60 world premieres.

About Leigh Silverman

Leigh Silverman has directed over 60 world premiere new plays and musicals. She received Tony Award nominations for her direction of the musicals Suffs and Violet, as well as a 2011 Obie Award and a 2019 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.

Her Broadway credits include Yellow Face (Roundabout), Suffs, Grand Horizons, The Lifespan of a Fact, Violet, Chinglish, and Well. Recent Off-Broadway work includes The Unknown (Studio Seaview), The Seat of Our Pants (The Public Theater; Drama League and Drama Desk nominations), and Harry Clarke (West End, Berkeley Rep, Vineyard Theatre/Audible, Minetta Lane; Lucille Lortel nomination). Upcoming projects include the Broadway revival of The Full Monty at Roundabout Theatre Company and the new musical Particle Fever at La Jolla Playhouse.

About Christopher Hibma

Christopher Hibma is Interim Co-Executive Director of HB Studio, where he guides strategy, operations, and long-term infrastructure during a period of institutional transition. He is also Director of The Enclave, a residency model connecting artists with spaces for sustained thought and creation.

For more than a decade at Sundance Institute, Hibma helped shape artist-development programs and international initiatives, working with artists, funders, and institutional partners across the United States and abroad. His career has also included work at the Guthrie Theater and leadership as Executive Director of Videos for Change. He currently serves as Founding Chair of the Board of Trustees for Zoukak Theatre in Beirut, as a board member of Projekt Utopia, and in advisory roles with the Under the Radar Festival and Catapult Opera. In 2026, he is a Fellow at Salzburg Global. His work centers on the structures that support artists and creative practice, including artist development, cultural infrastructure, institutional change, and international collaboration.