Hill succeeds Bill O'Brien, who left the theatre in 2007 for a position with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Laura Hill joined DWT in 2004 as general manager, and for the past five years has served in all capacities of the organization: She oversaw the company's operations and programming needs, shaped their educational outreach initiatives and worked closely with the Board of Directors to "re-invigorate the development and marketing departments including diversifying funding streams and re-designing the company's website."

Hill has also been instrumental in producing such DWT shows as A Night of One Acts, Sleeping Beauty Wakes and Pippin.

Prior to her work for Deaf West Theatre, Hill worked for various Fortune 500 companies in the areas of project management, communications and training. She was also company manager of Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group and was an interpreter for the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness.

This September DWT will present a 30th anniversary production of Children of a Lesser God at its North Hollywood space. *

Deaf West Theatre, Inc., (DWT) was founded in 1991 to "improve and enrich the cultural lives of the 1.2 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals who live in the Los Angeles area. DWT is recognized as the premiere sign language theatre in the United States."