 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.