As a founding father of Taiwan's contemporary theater, Lai's decision to follow this road was quite offbeat since, in the Taiwan of that day, virtually no one studied theater or saw any future in it. Despite this, after graduating from the English department of Fu Jen University, he proceeded to the University of California at Berkeley to study theater.
作為一個台灣劇場的「開山始祖」，賴聲川當年的選擇很「另類」，因為當時的台灣基本上沒人學戲劇，也看不到任何出路，但賴聲川自輔大英語文學系畢業後，即前往美國加州柏克萊大學攻讀戲劇。