Collaboration is a leap of faith. Join Denice Hicks and Stephanie Shine, creators of I Dwell in Possibility: Emily Dickinson Emerges. Explore the collaborative process between three women: Hicks and Shine, working together for the first time, and Emily Dickinson, immortal in her writing and ever present in the collaborative room. Highlights from the show will be shared as Hicks transforms in the moment to bring Emily Dickinson into the twenty-first century.
Denice Hicks has been performing for more than fifty years and is currently the artistic director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, a company dedicated to community enrichment through professional theatrical experiences and interactive workshops. Educated at Point Park University, Hicks starred in her first Shakespeare role as Juliet at the historic Pittsburgh Playhouse in 1979. She moved to Nashville in 1980 to perform at Opryland USA, was an original company member of the Nashville Repertory Theatre, and was among the founders of both the Darkhorse Theater and People’s Branch Theatre. She has been a guest lecturer at many universities and with the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad program for three weeks in Stratford-upon-Avon and in London. Hicks has been involved in more than seventy productions of Shakespeare’s works, with some of her favorite roles being Puck, Ophelia, Juliet, Rosalind, Olivia, Cassius, theDuke of York (Richard II), and Ariel. Non-Shakespeare favorite roles are Stella (A Streetcar NamedDesire), Ouiser (Steel Magnolias), and Lenny (Crimes of the Heart). She toured the entire state as Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst for Humanities Outreach of Tennessee. Hicks is thrilled to be reviving her passion for Emily Dickinson’s poetry with Stephanie Shine and is honored to be working with Tennessee Shakespeare Company.
Stephanie Shine is the director of outreach, general manager, and resident artist at Tennessee Shakespeare Company, for which she has directed many plays, including Henry VI: Wars of the Roses; Macbeth; Henry V; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Julius Caesar; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Southern Yuletide; Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits; Shake(s), Rattle, and Roll; Lend Me Thy Sword; and eleven productions of Romeo and Juliet. On stage with the theatre, she played the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors, the Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well, the female roles in Unto the Breach, and Gertrude in Hamlet. Prior to joining Tennessee Shakespeare Company, she was artistic director of Seattle Shakespeare Company, a position she enjoyed for thirteen years. Her production of I Am of Ireland (which she also conceived and adapted) opened Book-It’s twenty-fifth anniversary season in 2014. As an actor, she has performed with the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, New York City’s Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, The Empty Space, and Seattle Children’s Theatre, among others. The Germantown Arts Alliance honored her with its 2016 Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Performing Arts. She is the mother of four exceptional people: Conor, Cahilan, Sullivan, and Collins.