Stan Lai

Stan Lai or Lai Sheng-chuan (, born 25 October 1954) is an American-born Taiwanese playwright and theater director who is perhaps best known for his play Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land.

Apart from being a world-renowned theatre artist, Lai is also an award-winning filmmaker, and a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and has translated multiple books on the subject.

Robert Brustein has called Lai "The major contemporary Asian playwright of his time, perhaps of all time."

Lai was born on 25 October 1954 in Washington D.C., where his father was serving in the Republic of China's Embassy.

He returned to Taiwan with his mother in 1966.

Lai studied English literature at Fu Jen Catholic University and graduated in 1976.

In 1978, Lai married Ding Nai-chu (丁乃竺).

After the marriage, the couple went to the US for further studies.

The couple have two daughters: Stephanie, an actress, and Celeste Lai, a New York-based animator.

Lai received his Ph.D. in Dramatic Art from University of California, Berkeley in 1983.

After his return to Taiwan, Lai taught and served as Dean of School of Theatre Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts.

In 1984, Lai and Ding, along with Taiwanese actors Lee Li-chun and Lee Kuo-hsiu, founded Performance Workshop, a contemporary theatre group that has become one of the most celebrated in the Chinese world.

Lai became the Artistic Director while Ding served as the Managing Director.

Their work has revitalized theatre in Taiwan and continually pioneered new horizons in modern Chinese theatre.

Since its founding in 1984, Performance Workshop has produced more than 40 of Lai's theatrical works and collaborations, including iconic pieces such as Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, The Village, A Dream Like a Dream, and AGO.

(The Beijing News) Since 1984, his over 30 original plays have continually pioneered the way toward new horizons in modern Chinese theatre.

China's prominent literary critic Yu Qiuyu says that Lai's work “always has the ability to touch the heartstrings of countless audiences.”

Lai's most famous works includes That Evening, We Performed Crosstalk (1985), which revived the dying art of "Crosstalk" in Taiwan; The Village (2008), described by the China Times as "a collectible treasure for our generation" and by the Beijing News as "The pinnacle of our era of theatre"; the 8 hour epic A Dream Like A Dream (2000), described by prominent theatre critic Raymond Zhou as "a major milestone in Chinese theater, possibly the greatest Chinese-language play since time immemorial"; and perhaps his best known play Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (1986), described by the New York Times as "may be the most popular contemporary play in China…by the end, the audience is left to contemplate the burdens of memory, history, longing, love and the power of theater itself."

Unauthorized productions of the play in China alone number over an astounding 1,000 performances.

Lai's “crosstalk” (xiangsheng) plays, starting with the groundbreaking That Evening, We Performed Crosstalk (1985) have virtually forged a new theatrical genre.

These hugely popular works have resuscitated the dying traditional performing art form of Xiangsheng.

His epic 8 hour A Dream Like A Dream (2000), which has been compared to Peter Brook's Mahabharata, “may be the most cosmic piece of theater in the Chinese-language canon," revealing Buddhist and universal themes of suffering and recurring life cycles in a unique performance format devised by Lai that places the audience in the center of the space, with performance surrounding audience.

Lai remains a significant cultural bridge between Taiwan and China, and his influence on contemporary Chinese culture continues to grow.

Aside from his creative bases in Shanghai and Taipei, Lai has been commissioned to create new works in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing.

In 2006 and 2007, Lai taught at Stanford University as Visiting Professor and Resident Artist for the I.D.A. program.

In 2007, Lai directed his own English translation of the play at Stanford University.

In 2009 Lai was Creative Director of the acclaimed Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the International Deaflympics Games in Taipei.

In 2010, Lai worked as Creative Director for the Gala in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Republic of China.

Also In 2010 he served as Creative Director for the Taipei International Flora Exposition.

Lai took on the position of General Consultant for the 2011 Taiwan Lantern Festival held in Miaoli County, attracting a whopping 8.02 million visitors.

In 2013 he lectured at Berkeley as Avenali Fellow and Artist in Residence.

In May 2013, along with Chen Xianghong, actor Huang Lei, and theatre director Meng Jinghui, Lai co-founded the Wuzhen Theatre Festival, for which he serves as Festival Director.

In April 2015, Lai's opus magnum Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land had its professional American premiere, in English, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, running from April 15 through October 31.

In December 2015, Lai opened Theatre Above, a 699-seat theatre located in Xujiahui, Shanghai, dedicated to the performance of his works.

In 2016, Lai directed the San Francisco Opera's production of the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber.

In September 2018, Lai's Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden had its premiere at the Huntington Library.

The site-specific piece was produced in collaboration with the Huntington and CalArts Center for New Performance, and in association with the Shanghai Kunqu Troupe.

Stan Lai's plays have been described as "The pinnacle of our era of theatre."

In 2019 he taught at Berkeley as Artist-in-Residence.

A prolific author of 40 original performed plays to date, Lai was also commissioned by the government of the Republic of China to work on a number of large-scale events in Taiwan.