Vancouver-based Taiwanese actor and theatre artist Howard Dai has offered a very public tribute to a Siminovitch Prize finalist. As one of the four finalists, theatre artist-writer-director Adrienne Wong was given an opportunity to provide $5,000 to one protégé.
“While working a joe job, I got a phone call from Adrienne, choosing me to be her Emerging Artist for the Siminovitch Prize; her phone call felt like winning the lottery,” Dai wrote on Facebook. “In fact, every time our paths crossed felt like winning the lottery.”
The Victoria-based Wong received $10,000 as a finalist. In addition, the Siminovitch Theatre Foundation released videos profiling each of the finalists.
The one about Wong shows how she has pioneered participatory and live-digital performance. Through “PodPlays” and other works, Wong integrates technology into theatre to reshape perceptions.
“I’m interested in finding ways for the audience members—the people who come—to feel like their presence is as integral as the artist’s presence on the stage or in the room,” Wong says in the video.
The winner, Why Not Theatre founder and co-artistic director Ravi Jain, received $100,000. His protégé and co-artistic director, Miriam Fernandes, received $25,000. Earlier this month, all the finalists attended a lunch in Toronto with their protégés.
Watch the Siminovitch Theatre Foundation video about Adrienne Wong.
Wong introduced Dai to PodPlays
Dai first became acquainted with Wong when he was just 14 years old. This came two years after he had moved to Canada from Taiwan.
“I had just discovered theatre,” Dai wrote on Facebook. “One of the first things I did was join The Cultch IGNITE youth panel, and through it I got to take a three-day PodPlay workshop hosted by then-Artistic-Producer of Neworld Theatre, none other than Adrienne Wong. We learned a bit about the project and form, and got a chance to make our own lil PodPlay around the block at Victoria Drive and Venables. I loved it. It blew my mind.”
Dai pursued his passion for theatre in high school, completing a semi-autobiographical audio play in Grade 12. In this production, listeners each receive a toonie and an MP3 player, which enables them to enter the mind of a high school student. Even though Wong had left Neworld Theatre and moved to Ottawa, Dai sent her an email with the PodPlay. She listened and offered encouraging feedback.
“This was also the time when Tiger [Xu] and I had just started Two Gents of New West, and our next project was making an audio-play commissioned by Massey Theatre‘s Jessica Schneider for the 65th anniversary of the theatre,” Dai related. “We researched the history of the building and got some actors to record it, but also needed someone to help us with hosting a PodPlay-making workshop , and as well as sourcing some MP3 players for the presentation of the piece. Adrienne generously helped with both, while being afar in Ottawa.”
From the Massey Theatre to Stratford
Another piece that Xu began writing, The Rex Project, was about a robot learning human thoughts and emotions. Dai adapted the script into an immersive augmented reality production, which was chosen for Impulse Theatre’s Peek Fest Digital Residency. On Facebook, Dai pointed out that the project’s mentor was Wong.
“I remember remarking how incredible it was that ten years later I got to work with her again on the art form that she first introduced me to,” Dai noted.
Now in his late 20s, Dai has enjoyed a great deal of success. Last year, he played two roles in the Stratford Festival’s world premiere of Salesman in China, which was later performed in Ottawa. He also played Gregory in the Stratford Festival’s 2024 production of Romeo & Juliet.
More recently, Dai created a large-scale immersive and interactive show, Dream Machine, which he presented as a work-in-progress at this year’s Tremors Festival and PL1422.
Wong is now the artistic director of SpiderWebShow and co-curates the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA).
“I’m just one person. I’m sure everyone that has worked with Adrienne has a story,” Dai declared in his Facebook post. “When I think of ‘groundbreaking’, I think of someone whose work can blow open the expectation/understanding of an art form, someone who actively works to advance the form, and someone who has the gift to empower others to innovate alongside her. Adrienne does all of this, while keeping the community, accessibility, and play at its core. She continues to be so generous and truly helps out whenever she can. There is an expanding network of us who have been lifted up by her.”
To learn more about Howard Dai, visit his website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
