Denice Hicks (Paulina / Executive Artistic Director) has been working for The Nashville Shakespeare Festival since 1990 as an actor, director, teaching artist, and has held the position of Artistic Director since 2005. Raised in Lenni, PA, she made her stage debut at the age of five. Educated at Point Park University in Pittsburg, she moved to Nashville in 1980 to perform at Opryland USA. Denice was an original company member of the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and was among the founders of the Darkhorse Theatre and the People’s Branch Theatre. An Ingram Fellowship award winner, she has edited and directed touring productions of Shakespeare’s works, developed and facilitated workshops for students of all ages and designed and implemented the NSF Apprentice Company Training and Shakespeare Allowed! Programming. She has been a guest lecturer at Tennessee State U., Middle Tennessee State U., Vanderbilt U., Belmont U., Lipscomb U., Oklahoma City U., Bethel U., and Austin Peay U., and served as a Teaching Artist for the Leonard Berstein Center, Nashville Institute for the arts, and the Folger Shakespeare Library Institute, and she served as a guest lecturer with the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad program in Stratford-Upon-Avon and London. She was honored by the Nashville Scene as one of the “Twenty-five Nashvillians who’ve shaped the city for the better since 1989” and has frequently been voted “Best stage actor” by the readers of the Nashville scene.