Denice Hicks
With its iconic characters, whimsical humor and musical elements, As You Like It may be the perfect selection for Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s annual Summer Shakespeare production. And as it turns out, the Bard’s beloved pastoral comedy also offers an especially fitting send-off for executive artistic director Denice Hicks, who will be stepping down from her position on Sept. 30.
You see, Hicks was there for the festival’s very first performance back in 1988, when an intrepid group of actors known as TheatRevolution presented As You Like It as the city’s first free Shakespeare in the Park. Legend has it the performers had to pull their trucks up to the stage to light the second act, and that an enthusiastic audience — including Hicks — sat out in the rain, eager to check out the show.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is just the coolest thing — we’ve got guerrilla theater happening in Centennial Park,’” says Hicks, who started working with the company as an actor in 1990 and would eventually take on the role of artistic director — first as a volunteer and then with a full-time position in 2005. “I just loved the spirit behind it all.”
Over the years, Hicks has embodied that can-do spirit. Under her leadership, the festival has thrived — it is consistently acknowledged for its artistic excellence, creates a host of professional job opportunities, and supports a wide range of educational programs.
“I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent with the festival,” Hicks says. “It’s really been an honor. And while I’m stepping away, I have every confidence in the current leadership team — including executive managing director Isabel Tipton-Krispin and our new artistic director Jason Spelbring — to keep things growing and moving in the right direction. I’m excited for the future, and look forward to auditioning and continuing my work here in Nashville. I still love this community so very much. I’ve invested 45 years of my life into creating a thriving professional theater community here, and that commitment is not at all diminished.”
That unwavering commitment is not lost on Cammy Harris, who’s directing this summer’s production of As You Like It.
“With this being Denice’s final summer show as artistic director, I think it would have been very natural for her to sort of seize the moment and make it more about herself and her vision,” says Harris, a busy director and dramaturge and the executive director/founder of the Nashville Theater Link. “It’s just so telling of her generosity and her love for this artistic community that she decided to give me the opportunity. That’s Denice — always giving back and setting other people up for success. I’m incredibly grateful.”
Harris says she and Hicks worked closely together in selecting As You Like It, noting the play’s joyful and celebratory tone.
“We talked a lot about the nature of Summer Shakespeare — families and friends gather, there are kids running around and dogs barking and food trucks,” she says. “It always feels like something of a community celebration, so I was excited to find a show that matched that tone.”
Harris says this summer’s production draws inspiration, both aesthetically and musically, from the late 1950s and early ’60s.
“The show opens in Duke Frederick’s court and then moves to the Forest of Arden,” she says. “And there’s a striking contrast between those two worlds. The court is super controlling and autocratic, while the forest is more open and freeing, offering our characters the opportunity to really think about who they want to be, rather than who society expects them to be. So as we approached the show, I was looking for a period in time that would reflect those big contrasts between the dominant culture with its strict social norms, and then a counterculture that was embracing personal freedom and pastoral imagery. That led us to the late 1950s and early 1960s. And while our production is not set specifically in that time period, we’re drawing a certain visual vocabulary from the era.”
Harris is quick to credit her design team — including set designer Jessie Baldinger, costume designer Bethany Dinkel and lighting designer Phillip Franck — with establishing the production’s dynamic imagery. She also enlisted the help of local composer and musician Andre Madatian to create a worthy soundscape.
“The music in this play isn’t incidental,” she says. “It fuels ideas, debates and a sense of play. “We’re so fortunate to have Andre providing original music that really serves our story and moves it forward.”
In addition to Hicks, the cast features a great blend of new and familiar faces, including Dani Grace Nissen and Gerold Oliver, along with Kate Drury, Andrew Johnson, Galen Fott, Ethan Jones, Lorenzo Rivera, Aleia Eagleton and more.
Hicks says she’s delighted to be back onstage as Duke Senior, the virtuous leader who finds “good in everything.”
“We’ve actually made Duke Senior a mother to Rosalind rather than father,” she says. “But it’s really nice to be playing such a good guy, someone who models such principled leadership.
“As You Like It looks at a community that is divided, facing real difficulty,” she adds. “And yet everyone is able to come together to — as my character says — make good use of adversity. Together they find joy and make music and embrace those who have it worse. And that lifts everybody up. To me, that’s what this play is all about.
“So to present As You Like It at this particular time in history, to remind folks that we have the power to make the world a better place — what could be more meaningful? I can’t wait to share this beautiful production with our community.”
