David Alford

A writer, actor, director, producer, and teacher, David spent his early years in Pulaski, Tennessee, where his father worked as a Teacher and Administrator. He graduated from Martin ('85) and Austin Peay State University ('87), then attended the Juilliard School for Drama at Lincoln Center in New York City, and was awarded the Saint-Denis Prize upon his graduation in 1991. In 1994 he was awarded a Fox Fellowship for the foundation of Mockingbird Theatre in Nashville, a professional non-profit company that he served as Artistic Director until 2004. In 1996 he was the recipient of the Ingram Fellowship for Acting through the Tennessee Arts Commission. From 2004-2007, he served as Executive Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, the state's largest professional theatre company, and in 2008 became the Rep's first Artist-in-Residence. David has worked extensively as an actor both on stage and in front of the camera. He has appeared in over sixty professional theatre productions to date. Screen credits include principal roles in The Second Chance (Sony Pictures), The Last Castle (Dreamworks), and A Death in the Family (PBS/Masterpiece Theatre) among numerous other independent film projects and commercials. His writing credits include the plays "Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee" and an acclaimed stage adaptation of Alan Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams", among others. Filmed screenplays include "On Music Row" for VH-1, "Prisoner", a finalist in HBO's  Project Greenlight competition, and "Adrenaline", a full-length film shot in one continuous unbroken take, in which he also starred. Also a songwriter, David's most recent project was writing and directing his bluegrass musical Smoke - the story of rebellious tobacco farmers in the early 1900s. Numerous directing credits include work for The Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Humanities Outreach of Tennessee, Austin Peay State University, Shorter College, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and of course, Martin Methodist. He's directed one film, the above mentioned feature-length independent release "Prisoner".