Leigh Silverman

Leigh Silverman is a director for the stage, both Off-Broadway and on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical for the musical Violet and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Director of a Play for the play From Up Here.

Biography

Early life

Silverman was born in Rockville, Maryland, went to High School in Washington, D.C., and attended Carnegie Mellon University, earning a BFA in Directing, and an MA in Playwriting.[1][2]

Career

Silverman directed the Lisa Kron play Well Off-Broadway at The Public Theater; the play ran from March 2004 to May 2004. She also directed Well on Broadway in 2006. Among other awards, the play was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. She directed Kron's play In the Wake in its premiere engagement at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, California in March 2010.[3] She directed In the Wake at the Public Theater in November 2010.[4]

She has directed many plays Off-Broadway, including Blue Door by Tanya Barfield in 2006 at Playwrights Horizons, for which she was nominated for the Audelco Award, Best Director. The New York Times reviewer wrote that the play was "directed with care by Leigh Silverman."[5] She directed From Up Here, by Liz Flahive at The Manhattan Theatre Club's Off-Broadway City Center Stage I in 2008[6] and received a 2008 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play.[7] She directed David Greenspan's Go Back to Where You Are at the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater, opening in March 2011.[8] She received the 2011 Obie Award, as director, for Go Back to Where You Are and In the Wake.[9][10]

On Broadway, she was the Associate Director for the musical Never Gonna Dance in 2003. She directed Chinglish by David Henry Hwang at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago in June to July 2011[11] and on Broadway in October 2011.[12] She was nominated for the Joseph Jefferson Awards as Director of the Goodman Theatre production of Chinglish.[13]

She directed the revival of the musical Violet on Broadway for the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2013 and received a Tony Award nomination as Best Director.[14] The USAToday reviewer wrote that the musical was "quietly affecting and lovingly staged by director Leigh Silverman."[15]

Silverman directed Bright Half Life, a new play by Tanya Barfield at the Off-Broadway Women's Project Theatre in February 2015. This is the third time Silverman and Barfield have worked together.[16] (She previously directed Barfield's The Call in 2013 and Blue Door in 2006.)

She directed the world premiere of the Neil Labute play The Way We Get By at the Off-Broadway Second Stage Theatre, which opened on May 19, 2015, and closed on June 21. The cast starred Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried.[17][18][19] She directed the Encores! Off-Center production of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party in July 2015, starring Sutton Foster and Steven Pasquale.[20]

References

  1. ↑ Tallmer, Jerry. "The personal, universal world of Leigh Silverman" The Villager, October 4–10, 2006 (Vol. 76, Number 20
  2. ↑ "Interview with Director, Leigh Silverman" roundabouttheatre.org, March 26, 2014
  3. ↑ Stoudt, Charlotte. "Lisa Kron's 'The Wake' revisits the 2000 presidential election and Sept. 11" Los Angeles Times March 14, 2010
  4. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. "Thanksgiving Gets Political in Lisa Kron's 'In the Wake', Opening at the Public Nov. 1" playbill.com, November 1, 2010
  5. ↑ Isherwood, Charles. "Theater Review. 'Blue Door'. With Help From Family Ghosts, Tricking Out the Mysteries of Identity" The New York Times, October 9, 2006
  6. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "Tony Winner Julie White Stars in Flahive's 'From Up Here' in NYC" playbill.com March 27, 2008
  7. ↑ Gans, Andrew. "Drama Desk Nominees Announced; 'Catered Affair' Garners 12 Noms" playbill.com, April 28, 2008
  8. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "David Greenspan Is Time-Traveling Actor in 'Go Back to Where You Are', Beginning March 24" playbill.com, March 24, 2011
  9. ↑ The 56th Obie Awards" nytheatre-wire.com, accessed April 29, 2015
  10. ↑ Grode, Eric. "56th Annual Obie" Village Voice, May 18, 2011
  11. ↑ "World premiere of David Henry Hwang's Sexy New Comedy, CHINGLISH (June 18 - July 24), Completes Goodman Theatre's 'Decade on Dearborn' Celebratory Season.". Broadway's Best Shows. May 31, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  12. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "West Meets East: David Henry Hwang's 'Chinglish' Opens on Broadway" playbill.com, October 27, 2011
  13. ↑ "Jeff 2011 Equity Awards Announced". Jeff Awards. August 31, 2011. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
  14. ↑ Gordon, David. "With 'Violet' on Broadway, Director Leigh Silverman Journeys to Her First Tony Nomination" theatermania.com, May 22, 2014
  15. ↑ Gardner, Elysa. "Sutton Foster shows different shades in 'Violet'" USAToday, April 21, 2014
  16. ↑ Clement, Olivia. "Tanya Barfield's 'Bright Half Life', Directed by Leigh Silverman, Opens Off-Broadway Tonight" playbill.com, February 25, 2015
  17. ↑ Levitt, Hayley. "First Look at Thomas Sadoski and Amanda Seyfried in 'The Way We Get By'" theatermania.com, May 6, 2015
  18. ↑ Levitt, Hayley. "'The Way We Get By' Extends at Second Stage" May 27, 2015
  19. ↑ The Way We Get By lortel.org, accessed October 8, 2015
  20. ↑ "Review Roundup: Encores! Off-Center's 'The Wild Party'" broadwayworld.com, JUly 16, 2015

External links

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