Denice Hicks (NSF Executive Artistic Director) has been working for The Nashville Shakespeare Festival since 1990, and has held the position of Artistic Director since 2005. She has edited, directed and performed in over 50 Shakespearean productions, developed workshops for students of all ages, and created the Festival’s Apprentice Company Training and Shakespeare Allowed! programming. Educated at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, she moved to Nashville in 1980 to perform at Opryland. Denice was an original company member of the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and was among the founders of both the Darkhorse Theater and of People’s Branch Theatre. An Ingram Fellowship award winner, her work has been praised by the Tennessean, Nashville Scene, and BroadwayWorld.com, among other publications, from which she has received “Best Actor” and “Best Director” acknowledgments. She has been a guest lecturer at many universities and is currently serving on the advisory panel for Tennessee State U. and Lipscomb U. She was honored to sit on a review panel for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC, and as a guest lecturer with the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad program in Stratford-Upon-Avon and London. In 2014, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival was chosen as one of 14 North American Shakespeare theaters to be included in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK) documentary and book on Shakespeare in America. The Nashville Scene named her one of the "Twenty-five Nashvillians who've shaped the city for the better since 1989."
*This bio was retrieved from the Nashville Shakespeare Festival official website.
