Denver Center Theatre Company Director Israel Hicks Dies at 66

According to reports from the Denver Post, Israel Hicks, the Denver Center Theatre Company director, died Saturday in New York of prostate cancer. He was 66.

Hicks made history when he became the first director to production August Wilson's entire 10-play, 10-decade exploration of the black experience in American for the same theater company, according to the Denver Post.

"We've lost a giant," said actor Charles Weldon, who appeared in eight of the 10 Wilson plays at the Denver Center. "I think he was the greatest director in the world, and I'll preach that to anyone I have the chance to preach it to."

Hicks directed more than 20 plays at the Denver Center since 1990, and he was set to return to direct the Pulitzer-winning "Ruined."

"I learned the joy of living from him," said Kim Staunton, a longtime Denver Center actor who was already cast to star in "Ruined." "Part of me died today, too."

"It's a huge deal because any commitment over that period of time is extremely rare in the American theater today," said Thompson of the August Wilson cycle. Actor Harvy Blanks said, "It has to rank up with the greatest achievements in the history of the American theater."

Hicks did not want to be the "toKen Black director of the toKen Black plays," said the Denver Post and therefore looked to direct more diverse shows like the world premiere of "Coming of the Hurricane," and adapted classics like "The Madwoman" and "A Selfish Sacrifice."

Hickswas chairman of the theater department at Rutgers and artistic director of the Ebony Theatre in Los Angeles. He taught at Carnegie-Mellon and other acting conservatories, and was scheduled to direct this October at Juilliard.

Hicks, born in Orangeburg, S.C., grew up in the Brooklyn projects. He graduated from Boston University and earned his master's at New York University before getting his law degree from Harvard. He also played professional football for the New England Patriots and ran his own restaurant.

"Israel was a groundbreaker in many ways," Thompson said.

Hicks was known for overcoming medica. He directed "A Streetcar Named Desire" on two surgically repaired knees. "A Selfish Sacrifice" opened while he was in the hospital recovering from a quadruple heart bypass.

"He had this veneer of a kind of cynical, satirical humor," said Thompson, "but he had a great heart and cared so deeply about his actors. That always came through in his productions. I was always taken by the fierce bond that would develop within his ensembles."

Hicks' last production for the Denver Center was "A Raisin in the Sun," last year.

He is survived by his second wife, Renee Harriston-Hicks. He was preceded in death by first wife, Catherine, and daughter, Victoria.

Photo Credit: Denver Post

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