Jessika Malone

Jessika Malone is the Artistic Associate at Actors Bridge Ensemble and the Co-Founder and Program Director for the Sideshow Fringe Festival. Jessika’s professional acting credits include Actors Bridge Ensemble’s productions of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY, MARISOL, SIMPATICO, SAILOR’S SONG, and VINCENT IN BRIXTON (Named one of Broadway World Nashville’s Top Ten Plays of 2010). She has been named a "serious theatrical talent" by The Nashville Scene and her performances have been hailed as “absolute perfection” by Broadway World. Her professional directing credits include the Nashville premieres of WONDER OF THE WORLD, THE BOOK OF LIZ, MY FIRST TIME, EURYDICE, and THE FLU SEASON, among others. Her direction of Actors Bridge Ensemble and Belmont University’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s EURYDICE was named the 2011 Best of Nashville by the Nashville Scene. The Tennessean called her 2012 production of THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA “thoroughly engrossing, an evening of gripping drama” and Broadway World called it “fascinating and mesmerizing” for its incorporation of shadow puppetry in a new interpretation of the modern classic. She has been named as one of First Night’s "Unsung Heroes of Nashville Theatre" and has received numerous recognitions of excellence for her work as a theatrical event producer, having spearheaded the collaboration of Nashville’s theatre community in a unified production of STANDING ON CEREMONY (in conjunction with Tectonic Theatre Project) to benefit The Human Rights Campaign and TN Equality Project, STAND (a true story of homelessness in Nashville) to benefit Room In The Inn, and A MEMORY, A MONOLOGUE, A RANT AND A PRAYER (featuring author Carol Gilligan) to benefit V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. Committed to theatrical performance as a catalyst for social change, Jessika is honored to continually assist with Act Like a GRRRL (an autobiographical writing and performance program for teenage girls) and to have co-produced Act Like a Big GRRRL with the TN Prison for Women (working with incarcerated women in writing and public performance of personal narratives). Additionally, she has produced and directed successful tours of educational theatre outreach programming for young audiences, including her own original adaptation of Shel Silverstein’s poems and songs, INVITATION TO PLAY. Jessika is also a co-founder and director of the Sideshow @ Actors Bridge cross-training artists residency program for emerging theatre professionals with her colleagues Jackie Johnson and Mitch Massaro. The Nashville Scene awarded Sideshow the "Best Youth Theatre Movement" for introducing "innovative" and "progressive new ideas to Music City’s theatrical culture." She served as an official delegate to the inaugural World Fringe Congress in Edinburgh in 2012 and works continually with the United States Association of Fringe Festivals (USAFF) to develop opportunities for collaboration with theatre communities in various cities and to raise the visibility of fringe art throughout the Southeast. In the fall of 2012, she will produce the regional premiere of CRUMBLE (LAY ME DOWN, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE) with the Sideshow Ensemble, and will direct IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) in collaboration with Artists Cooperative Theatre in the spring of 2013. Her work is consistently listed as a Nashville Scene "Critic’s Pick" and a Tennessean "Best Bet." She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Drama with a Minor in Education from Belmont University, where she was named the 2007 Outstanding Graduating Senior in Theatre. Of her work with Sideshow @ Actors Bridge, Evans Donnell of ArtsNash writes, "If folks like Malone, Massaro and their colleagues are this good now, just think how much richer their work will become with the passage of time."