The Acting School
Our dual-track professional actor training program takes students through a brick-by-brick approach to the Meisner Technique, giving them a strong foundation in being emotionally available, truthfully responsive actors. Actors Bridge graduates have gone on to find success on the stage, the screen, and in continued conservatory training.
The Meisner Technique
Created by Sanford Meisner of New York’s influential Group Theatre and the Neighborhood Playhouse, the Meisner Technique creates truthful, emotionally-connected actors. Meisner-trained actors include Christoph Waltz, Diane Keaton, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Timothee Chalamet, Tracee Ellis Ross, Allison Janey and Connie Britton.
All students begin their studies by completing our 16-week Meisner Foundation program.
Dual track professional training
After completing the Meisner Foundation program, actors wishing to deepen their study in our professional training program sit for a personal interview with our teaching team to determine which training track best suits their goals and availability.
We offer two professional tracks for actors continuing their studies: The Improvisation Track and the Scene Study Track.
- Meisner Foundation
- Improvisation Track
- Scene Study Track
The Meisner Technique gets you out of your head and into the moment. Using a brick-by-brick process, Meisner gives actors a strong foundation in being emotionally available, truthfully responsive actors. The technique places a heavy emphasis on listening, reacting, and fully engaging with scene partners, thereby creating a natural and spontaneous performance.
Whether you are an actor interested in deepening your craft or someone looking for greater confidence, spontaneity, imagination, and intuition in your everyday life, the Meisner Technique can help you on your journey.
This track is best for students who know their work/life schedule will allow them to focus on their acting 3-5 hours per week in-class work and rehearsal with a partner.
These improvisational exercises are built to deepen actor’s faith as students create believable relationships with complex points of view to explore character and motivation under more sophisticated imaginary circumstances.
While attendance is mandatory, students can move forward on the Improvisation Track as long as they have not missed more than 2 weeks of class.
This track is best for students who can commit at least 5–10 hours per week on their acting training including in-class work, memorization, research and rehearsal with a partner.
In these classes, students will work with a partner on a scene chosen by our Meisner instructors. After memorizing it in the Meisner way, they will discover how to authentically embody a character’s point of view and respond with the reality of doing as Sanford Meisner conceived it. Students must be available for all classes in the series.
Students who miss more than one class will have to repeat the course before moving on to the next.
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Workshops and intensives
In addition to our Core Curriculum, we bring theater, movement, dance, voice, and other professional artists to offer elective workshops to our students and the Nashville artistic community. While most of these workshops are open to the public, some may require prerequisite training in our Meisner program. See individual event details for more.
CJ Tucker
Meet Our teachers
I remind all my students that I’m not teaching you how to act, I’m teaching you the Meisner Technique, which is an approach to acting new to everyone in the class. This makes learning really exciting because everyone can come with a beginner’s mind and enjoy Meisner’s proven method to get you out of your head and into the moment.”
Vali Forrister
what our students are saying
FAQ
Our fall cohort for Meisner Foundation begins September 20, 2023. Find all class times and dates on our Class Schedule page.
Everyone starts in the beginning regardless of prior training or experience. If you have studied Meisner before, we will assess your familiarity with the technique during the first 5 weeks and promote accordingly.
If you have completed the full Meisner series with us at Actors Bridge and wish to return to a specific level, contact us.
The total cost of our Meisner Foundation is $1085. Students may choose to pay the entire tuition up front at a discounted rate of $985.
There is a payment plan available. You may secure your place with a $185 deposit. The following three $300 payments are due before the start of each module.
Electives are priced according to the cost to host them. Find those prices on the Class Schedule page.
Students must be able to commit to attending every class in their module. You must be able to commit to at least Modules 1 & 2 (Repetition + the Independent Activity = 10 weeks) when signing up. We recommend taking all 3 Modules consecutively for maximum efficacy of the Technique.
Attendance in class is mandatory. Students who miss more than one class per module may be asked to repeat the module before moving on.
Yes. If you are interested in taking both tracks simultaneously, please discuss this with your Meisner faculty during your interview. You must be able to put the time and energy into both classes.
If you need to drop a class before the start of the session, you must give the office at least ONE WEEK’S NOTICE prior to the start of your class or workshop.
If you do so: any tuition paid toward the class and the non-refundable $100 deposit will be kept on credit at the studio for up to one year, to be applied to a future class or workshop.
If you drop the class ON THE DAY OF THE FIRST CLASS, the full tuition is non-refundable but will be kept on file for up to one year and is also transferable to another student.
If you drop a class MIDWAY THROUGH THE CLASS, you will need to have a conversation with your instructor about when you will be eligible to retake the class. Tuition payment is required to retake the class.