Hicks, a native of Philadelphia, 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. Educated at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, 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, and advocate for Arts in Education, 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. Her work has been praised by the Tennessean, Broadwayworld.com, Nashville City Search, The City Paper, and the Nashville Scene, from which she has received "Best Actor" and "Best Director" acknowledgments. In May 2012, she spent three weeks in England as a Guest Instructor for a Cooperative Center for Study Abroad program.

Filmography