History

Actors Bridge was founded in 1995 by Bill Feehely and Vali Forrister. Bill is a professional actor, director and songwriter who moved to Nashville after working in professional theatre in New York for fourteen years. Bill is a master teacher, with an MFA in acting from the Mason Gross School for the Arts at Rutgers University.  He is the head of the acting program at Belmont University. Vali Forrister has a master’s degree in performance studies and is an accomplished producer, director, writer and performer. She is also the creator and Super Goddess of Act Like a GRRRL.  She serves as adjunct faculty at Belmont and Lipscomb University.

Actors Bridge has had many homes.  We began in the Belmont Little Theatre in 1995. In 1996, we were invited to be 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, while the gracious congregation took communion on our crazy sets.

While St. A’s remains our spiritual home, growth required us to expand to new digs. Class, office and rehearsal space is now at the Neuhoff Site in Germantown. Neuhoff was once a meat packing plant and now houses such cool folks as the Nashville Jazz Workshop and the Nashville Cultural Arts Project and the Butcher Shoppe Studios.

We perform once a year at Neuhoff (when the weather is nice). Otherwise, you'll find us at Belmont University’s new Troutt theatre complex as well as at the Darkhorse, Neuhoff, Belcourt and TPAC.