Orion Risk (they/them/he) is a theatre artist and PhD Candidate in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in performance studies and feminist care theory. Most generally, their research explores discourses of care at the sites of gender, communication, and performance. They ask: How do we make social change through communicative practices? And: Can these interventions be situated in practices of care? They sucessfully defended their interdisciplinary dissertation, Shadow Actors in the Ensemble: Performing Entangled Neglect and Care, in May 2025.
Orion's practice-based scholarship through the UW–Madison Center for the Humanities explores virtual theatre and care between transgender people during the Covid-19 pandemic. These GenderTalks virtual performances gathered trans and nonbinary people on Zoom for candid dialogues about gender and Covid. The play Orion wrote from the dialogues transcripts was performed in three national fringe festivals in summer 2021 (PVD Fringe, Free Fringe Philly, Minnesota Fringe). An article in Performance Research unpacks this project for insights into care, vulnerability, and performance. A second paper exploring acknowledgement in GenderTalks was presented at the School of Criticism and Theory Symposium at Cornell University. Their scholarship also appears in Latin American Theatre Review.
Orion’s public humanities research has earned the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Graduate Student Award and selection as a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar. The Mid-America Theatre Conference recognized Orion as a Graduate Emerging Scholar for their research on vulnerability and performance, and their work received Top Student Paper from the Performance Studies Division of the National Communication Association.
Orion serves on Forward Theatre Company’s artistic leadership board, the Advisory Company. Previously, Orion developed TransTheatreFest–Madison, crafted the virtual play GenderTalks from real conversations between trans and nonbinary people (Fringe PVD; Free Fringe Philly; Minnesota Fringe), and produced and directed as founding artistic director of Scene D Theatre Project in Iowa’s Cedar Valley. Orion’s theatrical career started with Lampost Theatre Company in Cedar Falls, Iowa; over seven years, they assistant directed original musicals, led acting workshops, and toured nationally. Orion’s artistic trajectory has been honored with UW–Madison’s Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Award in the Creative Arts. Additional performance affiliations include Madison College, Edgewood University, Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Hearst Center for the Arts, Waterloo Center for the Arts, Cellar Door Theatre Company.
Continuing a commitment to humanities and arts education, Orion lectured an introductory trans studies class and taught discussion sections for introductory Theatre and Drama and Gender and Women’s Studies courses at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In the community, Orion has led acting seminars and movement workshops for groups across the United States. As TA Training and Support Specialist in UW–Madison’s College of Letters and Science, they designed trainings in pedagogical fundamtals and provided professional development to 1600+ graduate teaching assistants. Orion is a proud recipient of a 2025 Campus-Wide TA Award.
Orion is a member of the UW Ethics of Care Initiative and an inductee of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society and Phi Beta Kappa. They hold an interdisciplinary BA in performance and culture from the University of Northern Iowa. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, they have earned dual MA degrees in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies.