Ris
Bland

Ris Bland is a Filipino-American actor, singer, sound designer and scenic artist who is pursuing her BFA in Musical Theatre at Taylor University. She recently performed in Taylor Lyric Theatre’s production of The Spitfire Grill as a Percy Talbott. She played Albert in Taylor Theatre's production of Newsies, and has been in Everybody as Somebody, Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte as U/S for Despina. Other previous show performances include Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Julia in Conor McPherson's The Birds, and Amy/Beth Swing in Mindi Dickenstein’s Little Women. She recently completed a full season of shows as Charge Scenic Artist, with her latest show being Noises Off!, also at Taylor Theatre. She has also worked as Paint Charge at Festival 56 during the summers of '22 and '23, and is currently Sound Designer for the '23-'24 season at Taylor University.

 

Ris grew up in Manila, Philippines as part of a missionary family, and has had extensive international travel experience in South-East Asia. Stemming from this upbringing, she has a passion for international, intercultural, and ethnically diverse stories, which she aims to bring into her work, both on stage and in her writing projects. She believes that diverse stories can both provide underrepresented people a space to see their own stories in a respected and celebratory space, and also enlighten and cultivate compassion in fellow artists and audiences.