Stan Lai (Lai Shengchuan) is the most celebrated Chinese language playwright and director in the world.Asiaweek hails him as “Asia's Top Theatre Director,” and the BBC calls him "The best Chinese language playwright and director in the world, and pretty prolific too." Based in Taiwan, Lai's work has profoundly transformed the path of theatre in Taiwan and China today. The Orange County Register says “Few theater artists can claim the kind of far-reaching impact Stan Lai has achieved."

Lai's influence on contemporary Chinese culture continues to grow through his new works and the productions of his over 30 original plays, which over 30 years have continually pioneered new horizons in modern Chinese theatre. His most famous works include The Village (2008), described by the Beijing News as "The pinnacle of our era of theatre," the 8 hour epic A Dream Like A Dream (2000), described as “possibly the greatest Chinese-language play since time immemorial,” (China Daily); Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (1986), described by the New York Times as "the most popular contemporary play in China" and in 2007 chosen as one of the top ten Chinese plays of the 20th century, and That Evening, We Performed Crosstalk (1985), which revived a whole dying performing arts tradition called "Crosstalk" in Taiwan.

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1954, Lai is fluently bilingual and has also created new works in English(A Dream Like a Dream, 2000, at Berkeley; Stories for the Dead,2006, at Stanford). He is also an award-winning filmmaker (film The Peach Blossom Land won awards from Tokyo, Berlin, and Singapore Film Festivals) and twice winner of Taiwan's most prestigious National Arts Award. In 2007 he was elected into the Chinese theatre Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was chosen by Newsweek China as Man of the Year for Cultural Influence. Large scale events produced include the 2009 Deaflympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the 2011 Taiwan Lantern Festival.In 2013, Lai co-founded the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in the scenic town of Wuzhen, China. He is Artistic Director of Performance Workshop Theatre, his Taipei- based theatre group that is among the most influential in the Chinese speaking world.