"The best Chinese language playwright and director in the world." (BBC) "Asia's top theatre director," (Asiaweek), and "Asia's flagship playwright." (China Daily)  The New York Times calls Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land (1986) "the most popular contemporary play in China." The Beijing News calls his The Village (2008) "the pinnacle of our era of theatre." China Daily calls his epic 8 hour A Dream Like A Dream (2000) "the most elaborate theater work in Chinese history" and "possibly the greatest Chinese-language play since time immemorial." His 35 original plays to date have greatly influenced theatre in the Chinese speaking world. In 2015, Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land was the first of his plays to be performed professionally in the Western world, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. In 2015 Lai opened Theatre Above in Shanghai, dedicated to the performance of his works. He is also co-founder and Executive Director of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival.  Lai is also an award-winning filmmaker, alternative television comedy creator, and event director (Deaflympics Opening Ceremony, 2009). He recently directed the world premiere of Dream of the Red Chamber at the San Francisco Opera. Lai holds a Ph.D in Dramatic Art from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught extensively at the Taipei National University of the Arts, and at Berkeley and Stanford.

Stan Lai is also about part of the jury for this year’s Festival.

Since 2013, Stan Lai co-founded Wuzhen Theatre Festival with Chen Xianghong, Huang Lei and Meng Jinghui.