Actors Bridge Ensemble

Actors Bridge Ensemble Nashville's most established acting school and professional theater company. Telling the stories Nas We believe in the ensemble principle.

WE ARE

We are a training program for new and seasoned actors. We are a theatre company dedicated to telling the stories that need to be told in Nashville. We are committed to taking big risks for the reward of authenticity on stage and in life. We are in love with broadening what is considered theater in our community. We are people who help others find their voice and speak their truths. WE BELI

EVE

We believe in theater’s power to heal us in a thousand places we may not have realized needed healing. We believe that the theater is a sacred calling: we make a promise to our community to stay emotionally connected in a world that praises going numb. We promise to feel and remind our audiences how good feeling can be. The person you see on stage in one show you will likely see behind the light board in the next. The person selling tickets may also be a budding new playwright. Your usher is likely an aspiring actor. We are the home of Act Like a GRRRL, First Time Stories and the Directors Inclusion Initiative. Studio location: Darkhorse Chapel, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209

We perform at our studio and at the Darkhorse Theater.

What is honour, really? Is it keeping a promise, even when it costs you everything?Is it having the courage to finally b...
05/28/2026

What is honour, really?

Is it keeping a promise, even when it costs you everything?

Is it having the courage to finally break one?

Is it what you're owed, or what you earn?

We're asking these questions with the Nashville premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith's HONOUR this June.

Honour. Nashville Premiere. June 19–28 at Actors Bridge Ensemble. Tickets at actorsbridge.org

05/27/2026

A marriage of 32 years.

A husband who leaves.

A poet who gave up everything.

A daughter watching it all come apart.

Honour is not a comfortable play, but then it's not supposed to be. The work is "...greek in its examination of the fundamental human experience - yet utterly contemporary."

June 19–28. Actors Bridge Ensemble. A Nashville Premiere starring Vali Forrister.

05/26/2026

You've done workshops. You've done scene study. You've done audition coaching.
But have you done the foundational work?

Here's what most training skips: the deep, patient, cumulative process of learning how to be present — not perform presence, but actually have it.

Meisner doesn't care how long you've been acting. Everyone starts at the beginning. And that's exactly why it works.

Module 1 at Actors Bridge — The Repetition Exercise — begins July 15.
Experienced actors welcome. Ego optional.

actorsbridge.org

How did this production come together?In the summer of 2023, Vali traveled to New York to train at The Neighborhood Play...
05/24/2026

How did this production come together?

In the summer of 2023, Vali traveled to New York to train at The Neighborhood Playhouse, the birthplace of the Meisner Technique. That's where she met Lori Triolo- actor, director, and master teacher of the Meisner Technique.

Three years later, they're bringing one of the most significant plays of the last 30 years to Nashville together. Some collaborations are just meant to happen.

Meet your Claudia.Caroline Conner is a Nashville-based actor and Belmont University graduate whose work has taken her fr...
05/23/2026

Meet your Claudia.

Caroline Conner is a Nashville-based actor and Belmont University graduate whose work has taken her from the Nashville Shakespeare Festival to Circle Players, Third Coast Comedy, and stages across the city. She brings sharp instincts and genuine presence to every role she inhabits.

This summer, she steps into the role of Claudia, first played by Laura Linney. Claudia is a young woman who gets exactly what she wants and then has to reckon with what it costs everyone else.

Honour. June 19–28.

Meet your Sophie.Jillian Rice is a Nashville-based actor and recent graduate of Lipscomb University's BFA Musical Theate...
05/22/2026

Meet your Sophie.

Jillian Rice is a Nashville-based actor and recent graduate of Lipscomb University's BFA Musical Theater program, and she is exactly the kind of emerging talent that Actors Bridge Ensemble exists to put on stage. She also works as a freelance photographer, artist, and singer-songwriter. You can find more of her work online at jilliannrice.com

This summer, Jillian steps into the role of Sophie: the daughter watching her family come apart at the seams, trying to understand how the people she trusted most became strangers to each other.

Every family has a Sophie. She's the one who sees everything.

Honour. June 19–28.

Meet your Gus.Ross Bolen has spent decades earning his place as one of Nashville's most versatile actors, with over 60 p...
05/21/2026

Meet your Gus.

Ross Bolen has spent decades earning his place as one of Nashville's most versatile actors, with over 60 professional regional theater credits across Nashville, Cincinnati, Louisville, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. He holds an M.F.A. from CalArts and has taught theater at Belmont University, Lipscomb University, and Franklin Road Academy.

This summer, he steps into the role of Gus: a man who mistakes desire for truth and spends the rest of the play paying for it.

Honour. June 19–28.

Meet your Honor.Vali Forrister is the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of Actors Bridge Ensemble, which she la...
05/20/2026

Meet your Honor.

Vali Forrister is the co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of Actors Bridge Ensemble, which she launched in 1995 to bring socially relevant contemporary theater to her hometown of Nashville.

A sixth-generation Nashvillian, Forrister has produced over 100 productions for ABE, acting and directing in over 30 of them. The Tennessean has called her work "a tour-de-force" and "seemingly effortless"; Nashville Scene critics have consistently named her among Nashville's top actors and directors.

She is a recipient of the Nashville Business Journal's Women of Influence "Trailblazer" Award, Broadway World’s STAR Award and “Theaterati of the Year” Award. She received the inaugural Louisa Nelson Award from Nelson’s Greenbrier Distillery, recognizing women of achievement and vision in Nashville. Forrister holds an M.A. in Performance Studies. Her master’s thesis became the basis of the highly successful Act Like a GRRRL program.

Come experience Vali Forrister's return to the stage in Honour, premiering at Actors Bridge from June 19-28. Tickets available at actorsbridge.org

"Joanna Murray-Smith’s HONOUR is a modern domestic tragedy that feels more urgent than ever. At its heart, it asks quest...
05/19/2026

"Joanna Murray-Smith’s HONOUR is a modern domestic tragedy that feels more urgent than ever. At its heart, it asks questions that resonate with every generation: What happens when love, loyalty, and identity are tested? How do we face change without losing ourselves?“

— Director Lori Triolo

Ticket link in bio, or at actorsbridge.org

🙏 for supporting with a Helper Grant!❤️ .esthetics for representing us today! 🎉
05/19/2026

🙏 for supporting with a Helper Grant!
❤️ .esthetics for representing us today! 🎉

Address

4610 Charlotte Avenue
Nashville, TN
37209

Telephone

(615) 498-4077

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