(she/her/ella) Denise is an international theatre practitioner and arts activist, and serves as Associate Artistic Director of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in Chicago, Illinois. Denise holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from London’s East 15 Acting School, and co-founded Global Hive Laboratories, an international collective working toward a global theatre through an intentional practice of Active Access and community exchange. Denise is also an alumna of Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Multicultural Fellowship, and is one of artEquity’s diverse cadre of facilitators who support equity-based initiatives nationwide. Chicago credits include Somewhere Over the Border (Teatro Vista) 45 Plays for America’s First Ladies (The Neo-Futurists), Nine Lives of a Cat (MCA Chicago/Prop Thtr), La Ruta (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), The Revolutionists (Strawdog Theatre Company), Cambodian Rock Band (Victory Gardens Theater),  HIR (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), A Doll’s House (Writers Theatre), Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally (LTC Carnaval 2018: ConeXion!), Earthquakes in London (Steep Theatre Company), The View Upstairs (Circle Theatre Chicago), For the Love of (Pride Films & Plays), HOMESET (Pop Magic Productions), SPARK (20% Theatre Company), (the)forget_me\knot (inappropriate theatre company), La Chingada (inappropriate theatre company), and Climate Change Theatre Action – Chicago (Global Hive Laboratories). International credits include MEDUSA (Global Hive Laboratories, Fusion Theatre Company, La Compagnie Certes, Teatro Trieste Trentaquattro, Pleasance Theatre Trust, The Cockpit Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (The Shaw Theatre), Om Swastyastu from London – The Wailing Woman (Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar), and Heart’s Core (CAN – Refugee Women’s Theatre Programme).