Esbjornson's Broadway directing credits include The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, and Bobbi Boland. Additionally, he headed New York's Classic Stage Company, where he won an Obie for Thérèse Raquin. From 2005-2009, he was artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he directed plays such as How? How? Why? Why? Why?, The Great Gatsby, Tuesdays with Morrie, and the world premiere of Ariel Dorfman's Purgitorio.

Sorkin's play about a Navy lawyer who investigates a murder at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba premiered on Broadway in 1989. In 1992, it was made into a film starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.