Howard Dai is a Taiwanese actor, director, writer, 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 the assistant director of the world premiere of Forgiveness, a co-production between Arts Club Theatre and Theatre Calgary; and was most recently seen on stage as Banger in Jovanni Sy’s The Five Vengeances (Affair of Honor). Recent co-creation/performance credits include: Passenger Seat, a theatre-concert (Library Performance Co); Collider, a Virtual-Reality devising ensemble (Single Thread Theatre/FOLDA/rEvolver); and New Societies (re:current theatre, digital & in-person tour 2021-2). He is part of the Five Blessings Collective, writing TYA audio-plays around Chinese holidays. He is writing a new play Pineapple Bun 菠蘿麵包 that explores nostalgia and diasporic guilt, supported by rice & beans theatre, and by PuSh Festival and Royal Court Theatre as their 2022 digital-artist-in-residence. Howard is being mentored by Charles Douglas in movement and performance capture throughout 2022 with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Professional Development grant, as well as an one-on-one acting mentorship with Raugi Yu supported by 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. He has worked with companies such as 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 an Associate Artist with rice & beans theatre after having been their Associate Artistic Producer in 2021, and 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.
Howard Dai 