Actors Bridge was founded in 1995 by Bill Feehely and Vali Forrister. Bill saw the need to create ongoing professional actor training in Nashville and Vali longed to bring to her hometown the new socially-relevant plays she was seeing in New York, Chicago and London.

In the last 25 years, we have trained over 6,000 students in the Meisner Technique. Those actors have gone on to perform on local, regional and national stages as well as in film and television. There are few local productions that do not include a performer in some way influenced by Actors Bridge training.

As a professional theatre company, we have produced over 100 plays, including 15 World Premieres and 80 Nashville premieres.

Actors Bridge began in the Belmont Little Theatre in 1995. In 1996, we became the theatre-in-residence at St. Augustine’s Chapel on the campus of Vanderbilt University. We spent 7 amazing years performing cutting-edge theatre in the little A-frame chapel, while the gracious congregation received the Eucharist on our funky sets. In 2003, we left St. A’s to become pioneers in Germantown at the Neuhoff Site. In 2013, we joined the revitalization of Charlotte Avenue by moving our studio space to the LeQuire Gallery building. In 2015, we moved a few blocks down the road to the Darkhorse Chapel (behind Darkhorse Theater) at 4610 Charlotte Avenue.

For 12 years, we were the professional theater in residence at Belmont University.

Actors Bridge is the home of Act Like a GRRRL, an autobiographical writing and performance program for teenage girls to find their voice and speak their truths on stage and in life.

Actors Bridge continues to be led by Co-Founder and Artistic Director Vali Forrister.