He moved to Brooklyn, New York City, with his family as a child, and spent summers on his grandfather's farm in South Carolina.
[1] While at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Hicks was asked by artistic director Donovan Marley if he wanted to direct the full cycle of August Wilson's plays and responded immediately "Hell, yeah".
He was described by The New York Times as being the first person known to direct the 10 plays Wilson wrote in The Pittsburgh Cycle, starting with Fences in 1990, Joe Turner's Come and Gone in 1991, The Piano Lesson in 1993, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in 1994, Two Trains Running in 1996, Seven Guitars in 1997, Jitney in 2002, King Hedley II in 2003, Gem of the Ocean in 2006 and Radio Golf in 2009.
[4] Kent Thompson called Hicks' commitment to directing the entire play cycle "extremely rare in the American theatre today".
[4] Hicks also co-founded with Wren T. Brown the Ebony Repertory Theatre in Los Angeles and served as its artistic director.