Howard Dai is a Taiwanese actor, writer, director, and theatre artist whose work has been seen across Canada.
Howard makes works that engage the audience as active participants through technology, curiosity, and play. As an interdisciplinary artist, his practice ranges from acting for stage, clowning, directing, dance, stage combat, performance art; to music composition, sound design, technical direction, and interactive programming. His artmaking has been form-driven; whether that is in a blackbox, an audio-play, a performance installation, or an interactive experience. He believes in process and collaboration; in curating a room of trusted collaborators who can all contribute artistically into the work. His performances and creations have existed on stage, films, public spaces, Zoom screens, Google Sheets, automated phone calls, interactive websites, and virtual reality. He is a recipient of a 2025 Siminovitch Theatre Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, selected by finalist Adrienne Wong.
As an actor, he was most recently in Neptune Theatre’s The New Canadian Curling Club, and made his Stratford Festival debut in the 2024 season in Romeo & Juliet (as Gregory and Fight Captain) and Salesman in China (as Ding and Policeman). Recent co-creation and/or performance credits include: Dream Machine, Jovanni Sy’s The Five Vengeances (Affair of Honor), STARBABY and Passenger Seat with Library Performance Co; Collider, a Virtual-Reality devising ensemble (Single Thread Theatre/FOLDA/rEvolver); and New Societies (re:current theatre, digital & in-person tour 2019-22). He is a member of the Five Blessings Collective, which created A YEAR OF BLESSINGS, a five-episode audio play series about Chinese holidays, made for young audiences.
Howard was the assistant director for the beloved East Van Panto in 2023 and 2024; as well as the assistant director and a swing actor of the world premiere of Forgiveness (an Arts Club Theatre & Theatre Calgary production, winner of 3 Betty Mitchell Awards including Outstanding Production). He was the 2022 digital-artist-in-residence with PuSh Festival (Vancouver, Canada) and Royal Court Theatre (London, UK) with the workshop of his play 菠蘿麵包Pineapple Bun, supported by rice & beans theatre. As an associate artist with rice & beans theatre, he is currently developing Dream Machine, a large-scale theatrical game-show.
Howard was mentored by Charles Douglas in performing for the medium of motion capture & performance capture with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Professional Development grant, as well as an one-on-one acting mentorship with Raugi Yu with BC Arts Council’s Early Career Development program. He is a certified Actor-Combatant at the basic level (unarmed, single sword, quarterstaff) by Fight Directors Canada.
Howard works on the unceded land belonging to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skxwú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ Nations; colonially known as Vancouver. Some companies he’s worked with include Stratford Festival, Rumble Theatre, Radix Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Fight With A Stick Performance, fu-GEN theatre, Two Gents of New West, and HIVE Performance Collective. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. www.howarddai.com
Some legacy pages that I don’t maintain anymore that I’ve taken off the menu but because I get too attached to things so I’m gonna leave them here anyway: My old portfolio in performance, sound/music, arts admin, and other stuff. Some of those things on a grid.