College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Yoki Miu Chi Lai as Assistant Professor of Scene Design.
Lai is a set, costume, and production designer for theatre performances and corporate events, having worked on over 120 productions in Hong Kong and internationally.
She has taught MFA and BFA courses at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and has designed sets for the Public Broadcasting Services, the Asia Society, Princeton University, and Fortune Live Media in the United States; the Rose Theatre and the Haymarket Theatre Company in the United Kingdom; Queensland Conservatorium Theatre in Australia; Wild Rice in Singapore; Shanghai Theatre Above and Shenzhen Media Group in mainland China; and for leading theatre companies in Hong Kong including the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Hong Kong Opera, Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the Emperor Entertainment group. She was the Resident Designer for Chung Ying Theatre Company from 2003 to 2005.
Lai has received awards including Best Set Design and Best Make-up and Image Design as well as Best Costume Design Nomination from the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies. She was awarded the Donald and Zorca Oenslager Fellowship Award in Design in 2008 and the Eldon Elder Fellowship in 2007 and 2008 at Yale University; and an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in New York in 2007.
Lai worked as a full-time assistant for Santo Loquasto in New York City for his various Broadway productions from 2008 to 2010. She was Ming Cho Lee’spersonal assistant in 2011 for his world-renowned prominent set designer exhibition in Shanghai and Ningbo, China.
Lai holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Yale University School of Drama and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
