Actors Bridge Ensemble and Meharry Medical College School of Global Health Partner to Present Cynthia C. Harris’ MAMA STORIES, a World Premiere Inspired by 90 Interviews on Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood
NASHVILLE, TN (October 15, 2025) – Actors Bridge Ensemble is proud to announce a new partnership with Meharry Medical College’s Maternal Health Excellence Research Center in the School of Global Health to present MAMA STORIES, the latest choreopoem by acclaimed Nashville artist Cynthia C. Harris.
Founded in 1995, Actors Bridge Ensemble is a Nashville-based theater company dedicated to telling the stories Nashville needs to hear. Through bold new works, actor training, and community-based storytelling, ABE amplifies voices often left unheard and cultivates art that transforms both artist and audience. The company is led by co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Vali Forrister. For more information: actorsbridge.org
MAMA STORIES results from a partnership between two of HRSA’s Maternal Health Research Collaborative’s minority serving institutions receiving 5 years of support to establish Maternal Health Research Centers. Both Morehouse and Meharry’s Centers are interested in developing innovative approaches to community education. Based on Morehouse’s data and Meharry’s arts-based processes an impactful performance was born.
Cast: Raven Buntyn, Briana Celeste, Cynthia Harris, Chan Murrell, Leah Alexander, Kiarra Peete, LeAndra Crystal, Cecilia Olusola Tribble, Kamaryn Robinson
Based on nearly 90 interviews with women sharing complex, emotional, and heroic stories of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood, this world premiere production ran November 13–15, 2025, at Darkhorse Theater (4610 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209).
The project originated from oral history interviews conducted between 2021 and 2023 by Morehouse School of Medicine’s Center for Women’s Health Equity under the leadership of Dr. Natalie D. Hernandez. The findings from the interviews were shared with the Meharry Medical College’s Maternal Health Excellence Research Center.
Dr. Hernandez shares “This collaboration reflects our commitment to honoring women not only as data points, but as whole people with voices, histories, and wisdom. By transforming maternal near-miss stories into choreopoems, we are using the arts as a powerful form of dissemination, one that centers dignity, fosters healing, and allows women’s lived experiences to be seen, felt, and remembered in ways traditional research alone cannot accomplish.”
“It is an extraordinary privilege to have access to such a remarkable collection of stories,” says Vali Forrister, Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Actors Bridge Ensemble. “Actors Bridge has been creating original works from personal narratives and oral histories since our inception, but we have never encountered a collection of such breadth and depth. We are deeply grateful to Cynthia and Meharry for the opportunity to collaborate on this important project.”
As noted by collaborator, Leah Alexander, Associate Professor and community-engaged Public Health researcher at Meharry, “I am delighted and proud to be a part of this innovative work that bridges the gap between research and the lived experience of mothers in the south.
Tennessee experiences some of the poorest maternal mortality rates in the country. These rates aren’t just numbers; they represent real women, families, and communities. I am always thinking about ways to translate our work beyond academic settings. The collaboration with Dr. Hernandez and her team from Morehouse demonstrates how working across institutions can result in powerful, community-engaged research dissemination. This performance honors stories filled with love, loss and strength and returns them to the community in a form that will teach, heal, and motivate. Cynthia and Vali are trailblazers in the arts and have a long successful track record of working together. I admire them immensely and am so thankful to be a part of the team”.
